Kissing Kurt
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Blaine Anderson has been in love with Kurt Hummel for two years and still hasn't worked up the courage to tell him. When his half-sister Rachel seems to have no problem with kissing Kurt for the school musical, what will Blaine do? Anderberry!siblings.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: So... I wrote this some time ago, based on a gif set on Tumblr... I think this is going to be a multi-chapter story, which is why it's classified as a Blaine/Kurt story even though this chapter's written in Rachel's POV. I imagine that will change at some point. Or maybe not. I haven't quite worked that out yet. And as always, I have no idea when this will actually be updated, but I wanted to put this up anyway. I'd say this takes place at the start of season 3, around IAU. I also haven't really worked out yet if Blaine just transferred or not, or if Kurt has ever been to Dalton... as you can hear, it's all still pretty vague - I actually worked out the rough plotline only just now, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it :\ If you have any suggestions, feel free to drop them off :)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Glee, _West Side Story_, or anything else you may recognise.

Hopefully you'll enjoy this, and please leave a review when you reach the bottom of the page :)

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><p>Nothing, and no one, was going to bring Rachel Berry down today. She was about to deliver a phenomenal performance for her audition for the part of Maria in <em>West Side Story<em>, Finn had been encouraging her (and therefore only paying attention to _her_) all day, and maybe, just maybe, things with Shelby would work out after all.

She couldn't be happier.

Currently, she was sitting backstage in the auditorium, waiting for her brother to show up – it was nothing like Blaine to be late, especially since they'd agreed to meet up and audition together. Rachel would not be amused if he wasn't there on time.

"Sorry I'm late, Rach," he apologised as he finally arrived. "I was… talking to Kurt, and we lost track of time."

"You were talking to Kurt? Why?" Rachel asked, somewhat confusedly. "Blaine, he's your main rival for the part of Tony! You're not supposed to be fraternising with the enemy, even though, admittedly, you've got a better chance at getting the role than he does since you appear to be just slightly more manly, at least to people who don't know you as well as I do, but – "

"So why were you talking and laughing with Mercedes earlier?" Blaine retorted. "She's auditioning for Maria too, after all."

Rachel waved away his concern. "She isn't a threat to me, Blaine, you know that."

Before her brother could reply, she walked out, onto the stage, to face the three directors with her usual confidence. Blaine could only follow her and sing with her, just like they'd rehearsed.

And just like Rachel had expected, they sounded amazing. They had, after all, been singing together since they were both still in diapers, and she supposed that nothing could really beat that.

Once they were done, they got a small applause from the three directors, and while Ms Pillsbury and coach Beiste could barely stop praising them and their vocal talents, Artie was a little more quiet.

"So…," he eventually said, looking slightly uncomfortable, "you two are both auditioning for the lead roles?"

Rachel smiled winningly, and she knew Blaine was doing the same next to her. This must be the moment where they were both given the parts, no matter who their competition was. "Of course," she replied.

Artie gave them a curt nod. "You do realise that means you'll play opposite each other… _romantically_?"

Rachel and Blaine only stared at him in shock. How hadn't they thought of that before? They _knew_ that Tony and Maria were lovers, and that they were going for the parts of Tony and Maria. How had they never realised that they'd have to act as if they were in love and – even worse – kiss on stage?

"No, no," Rachel eventually spluttered. "There must be a solution."

"If you two are really opposed to playing two lovers – " coach Beiste started, and both Blaine and Rachel nodded frantically. Rachel couldn't imagine having to kiss, or make-out, with her baby brother – even if he wasn't really that much of a baby, but still. She was born to be an actress, and she was more talented than many of the current stars, but kissing _Blaine_? Definitely not. "We'll just have to select someone else to play opposite one of you," the football coach finished.

"I don't mind kissing Kurt," Rachel volunteered – and yes, she knew that she'd massively screwed up just the day before when trying to help him audition again, but that didn't mean she was completely opposed to kissing him. "Finn'll understand. After all, Kurt's his stepbrother and Finn knows he's gay, so it'll all be fine. Besides, Kurt dated Brittany for a week in sophomore year, he wouldn't mind kissing a girl."

"Neither do I," Blaine said. "In case you'd forgotten, Rachel, I've kissed girls as well."

"You kissed _one _girl," Rachel corrected him. "While you were _drunk_. That doesn't count."

"Doesn't mean I mind kissing a girl for a play," Blaine insisted.

"Blaine, I'm not kissing you," Rachel repeated.

Blaine shrugged. "Mercedes is auditioning for Maria tomorrow, isn't she?"

"Blaine, we've discussed this," Rachel hissed at him, not happy at all that they were having this discussion now, in front of the directors. "I _need_ this part to get into NYADA. I'm a senior, so I deserve this more than you do. You still have another chance at playing lead next year, I don't. Come to think about it – neither does Kurt."

"Or Mercedes," Blaine retorted.

"We'll figure something out," Artie's voice suddenly rang out, and the two siblings finally glanced up again. The three directors were leaving already.

"Please remember, I don't mind kissing Kurt!" Rachel called after them in a final attempt to convince them. Now she only needed to talk to Finn – and maybe Kurt, too.

Blaine, however, hadn't moved. "What if I do?" he muttered.

"Sorry, what?" Rachel asked, still rather happy about the audition. It _had_ gone tremendously well, after all.

"What if I mind?" he repeated, slightly more harshly, and Rachel took a step back when she saw the frustration in his face. "What if _I_ mind you kissing him, Rachel? I've been in love with him for two years now and he'll never spare me a second glance, let alone kiss me, and then you barge in with your clever plans and your – your _backstabbing_ because I _thought_ we were going to do this together, so you'd get to kiss him an infinite amount of times without it meaning _anything_ and… how's that supposed to make me feel? That you can just kiss the guy I'm in love with even though he's gay, while I know that _I'll_ never have that chance?"

With that, Blaine stormed out of the auditorium (if he hadn't been angry with her now, she'd compliment his storming out talent and maybe give him a few pointers), leaving Rachel to wonder what on earth had just happened.

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><p><strong>AN**: Oblivious Rachel is oblivious - and horribly so. What did you think? Let me know, please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: So, I've worked out some more stuff for this. For the people who asked about it, Blaine (since this is inexplicably from his POV. There will be another Rachel chapter at some point though) briefly talks about them not figuring out that he and Rachel would have to play lovers. It may be discussed more in the future, but I'm not sure about that yet. Also, both Kurt and Blaine have always been at McKinley, and I suppose this means the Sadie Hawkins thing didn't happen - though that might change in the future as well. Heh. But, as you'll see in this chapter, they do know some Dalton students - will also be explained later (I wanted to do that now, but I couldn't find a good place for that), though it isn't really that hard to figure out, I suppose. Last thing before I stop ranting: I don't think this story will be super long. Which is probably good, because that way, it won't take me over a year to finish it. Hopefully.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom to tell me what you thought! :)

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><p>"So how'd the audition go?"<p>

Blaine looked up from his coffee and pulled a face. "It went… well, I guess," he replied, before glancing back down at his coffee. Normally, he and Kurt went to the Lima Bean after school, but today, Kurt had to help his dad at the shop, for which Blaine was actually rather thankful now. He didn't know what he would've said or done if he'd had to face Kurt now.

Instead, he had asked some other friends to come, and luckily, Nick and Jeff had been more than willing to come to the coffee shop as soon as Dalton let out.

"But?" Jeff prodded.

"_But_," Blaine repeated, before shaking his head. "Rachel was… her typical self."

"That can't have been good," Nick remarked. The two boys had only met Rachel a handful of times, and she'd hardly talked to them on those occasions (since they were the enemy and why did Blaine and Kurt hang out with Dalton boys anyway, didn't they have enough friends at McKinley?), but they'd heard enough stories to know what she was (or could be) like.

"We… kind of didn't realise that we'd have to kiss as leads," Blaine confessed, inwardly yelling at himself, because how could they not have realised something like that?

"You didn't realise," Nick repeated disbelievingly. "Isn't that the general consensus of plays and movies of this kind, though? The two leads usually end up being romantically involved?"

"I don't know what we were thinking," Blaine muttered. "But I know one thing, and that is that I'm not prepared to make out with my sister."

"So… what are you going to do now?" Jeff asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I don't know," Blaine sighed. "Mercedes is going to audition for Maria, and then we'll just have to wait and see what the directors think is best. They _do_ know that Rachel and I don't want to be Tony and Maria together."

"So they might put Mercedes opposite you?" Nick asked. "That's… okay, right?"

"I'm fine with it," Blaine assured them. "I really hope Mercedes is too, and the entire school knows I'm gay so her boyfriend shouldn't have to view me as a threat." In Blaine's mind, that would be the least problematic solution. "They could also put Kurt opposite either of them."

"Ah." The two Warblers smiled knowingly.

"That's Rachel's go-to plan now," Blaine added. "She pretty much told me to back down and give the part to Kurt so at least she could still be Maria."

"And what does Kurt have to say about this?" Nick asked.

Blaine sighed again. "He doesn't know yet." His mind briefly flashed back to the conversation they'd had before the audition. Even though they were technically competitors, Kurt had tried his best to make sure Blaine was ready and relaxed and had faith in himself. "He wants the part, but…"

"The question is, would he still want it if he knows what Rachel's doing," Jeff supplied when Blaine drifted off.

A small smile took over Blaine's face as he thought about the other boy. Kurt was really one of a kind. No matter how much he wanted something, he always kept in mind what the consequences would be, both for him and for others. If he felt like he was only getting the part because of Rachel's scheming, he might just refuse the role. Rachel, on the other hand, usually tended to forget about the consequences of her actions.

"It's not like I absolutely don't want him to have the role," Blaine said. Even if they would never be more, Kurt was still his friend, after all. "I just…" He groaned. "I really don't want him and Rachel to kiss."

"Because nothing's as awkward as watching your crush make out with your sister," Nick agreed.

"Or the other way around," Jeff added.

"That's the same thing," Nick pointed out, but Jeff shrugged.

"They both sound awkward in their own way."

"That's true," Nick conceded.

"And it would feel… weird," Blaine continued. "If we ever were to start dating, I'd constantly be reminded of the fact that he and Rachel kissed before we did. I hate this."

"So just tell him," Jeff suggested. "He probably likes you back."

"Of course he doesn't," Blaine scoffed. "He probably just sees me as his best friend's younger brother."

Nick actually laughed at this. "Blaine, tell me again, how did you and Kurt meet?"

"In Glee," Blaine replied, not sure what Nick was doing. "We met at auditions day."

"And where did Rachel and Kurt meet?" Nick asked, and Blaine made a sound of impatience.

"In Glee," he repeated. "They'd had some classes together before, but never talked before joining Glee club."

"Right, so both you and Rachel met Kurt at the same time," Nick reminded him. "There was no way Rachel had told him all kinds of stories about her younger brother before that time, so his first impression of you was definitely not, 'oh, it's Rachel's younger brother'."

"Besides, didn't you and Kurt hang out long before Kurt and Rachel started having somewhat civil conversations?" Jeff added.

"Okay, I get it," Blaine said. "But even if he doesn't see me as Rachel's annoying kid brother, I'm still younger than them. More immature, and all that."

"I don't know who you've been talking to, but the fact that you're a couple of months younger than Rachel doesn't make you less mature than her," Jeff told him.

"I also think you should tell him," Nick said. "You're practically attached at the hip at times anyway, so it's not like it would be that big a change."

"So like you and Jeff?" Blaine asked, causing the two boys to roll their eyes.

"That's different," Nick evaded. "I'm certain that Kurt likes you too. I can't imagine him being happy with it if you never tell him about your feelings just because Rachel is going to kiss him for a play. And maybe he won't feel very comfortable admitting his feelings to you with the prospect of having to kiss your sister."

"Alright, maybe I'll tell him," Blaine gave in. Once he was sure it wouldn't wreck their friendship, that was.

"Tell who what?"

Blaine almost jumped three feet in the air, only managing to stay on the chair because of the hand lying innocently on his shoulder.

"Kurt!" Jeff exclaimed happily. "Blaine said you were working at your dad's shop today!"

"I was," Kurt said, sitting down in the only free seat left – right next to Blaine, of _course_. "There was nothing to do, though, so dad shooed me out again." He smiled at all three of them before asking, "So what were you talking about?"

Blaine opened his mouth to reply, but closed it a few seconds later when he couldn't come up with any excuse. He felt blood rushing to his head and any moment now, he would just say what he was so afraid to say, and Kurt would hate and avoid him forever.

"Finn," Jeff promptly said, his eyes widening promptly.

"Yeah, Finn," Nick said, nodding furiously, and Blaine knew that there was no way Kurt would fall for that. He wasn't exactly a good liar, and Nick and Jeff were fumbling as well. "Blaine was going to tell Finn that he should audition for _West Side Story_ after all."

Kurt frowned. "Why would you do that?" he asked Blaine. "You know he's busy with school and football and helping my dad out…"

"I wasn't sure if we had enough guys there who could sing?" Blaine offered.

"Awesome, more competition for Tony," Kurt said with a half-hearted smile. "Speaking of, how'd the audition go?"

"It went well," Blaine repeated his earlier words, but with more vigour this time. After all, he wasn't quite ready to tell Kurt about his and Rachel's sudden epiphany and his subsequent admission that he was in love with Kurt. Not at all. "I guess we'll just have to wait until the cast list goes up now, right?"

The four boys stayed in the Lima Bean for almost another hour after that, just chatting about what was going on in their lives. Sneaking glances at Kurt the entire time, Blaine desperately hoped that he would be able to tell his best friend how he felt – and kiss him, too – before Rachel would get the chance to ruin everything.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: My apologies for the long wait! I wanted to update this sooner, but regular updates aren't exactly my forte, as you may know. Anyway, here's chapter three :) It's from Rachel's POV again; the next chapter will have some Blaine's POV again (as well as Rachel's). I also thought/said before that this would be relatively short (6/7 chapters), but it may be a bit longer than that now. I'm still writing it, so we'll see :P Oh - I hope no one's (too) OOC here.

Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy this, and please leave a review! :)

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><p>When Rachel finally exited the auditorium, she walked right into Puck. "Hey, Noah," she greeted him absent-mindedly. "Are you – is football practice over?"<p>

"Yeah," he replied, frowning a little. "What are you still doing here, though? Finn said your audition was like half an hour ago."

Had she really stayed in the auditorium for so long? Then again, it _had_ been quite a bombshell Blaine had dropped on her earlier. "Finn left already?" she asked, and Puck shrugged.

"He said something about meeting you at his car? I don't really know. Anyway, I need to… do something before I go."

As Puck ran off in the opposite direction, Rachel stalked towards the parking lot, once more contemplating what Blaine had said. She almost couldn't imagine that her baby brother had a crush on her best friend. Alright – their best friend. But still.

By now, she'd reached Finn, who gave her a confused look. "Where were you?" he asked. "I thought your audition was ages ago. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied, smiling up at her boyfriend. "I'm fine. I decided to stay behind to rehearse a little. You know, to show the directors that they made the right choice once the cast list goes up."

Finn grinned. "So the audition went well?" he asked as he got into his car.

Rachel hastily opened the passenger door. She was so used to catching a ride with Blaine or Kurt (or both), who usually held the door open for her – and each other, now that she thought about it – that she always forgot that her boyfriend wasn't as sophisticated. But she loved him regardless, of course. "It went even better than we thought it would go," she responded. "It was perfect. I feel bad for Mercedes."

"So you think you've got the parts?" Finn asked. "Kurt will be bummed." He frowned. "That means we'll only be having rabbit food all week. I should really warn Burt."

Feeling slightly uncomfortable now, Rachel said, "I'm sure I've got the part of Maria. If Blaine knows what's good for him, though, he'll let Kurt have to part of Tony." Finn shot her another confused glance. "There's no way I'm kissing my brother, Finn." Even though Blaine was, to be fair, her half-brother as most – their birthdays were only four months apart, it honestly hadn't been that hard to figure out – they'd grown up together as siblings.

"Yeah," Finn said. After a couple of seconds, he asked, "But… didn't you already know that you'd have to kiss each other before you auditioned?"

"We got too caught up in perfecting our audition piece to realise that," Rachel replied stiffly. "I can't believe our dads never asked us about it, though. We've performed that song for them half a dozen times, at least."

Finn nodded slightly, and Rachel was relieved that, just like she'd expected, Finn didn't raise any problems he had with Rachel potentially kissing his stepbrother. Wait. That was strange as well. Blaine, Rachel's brother, was in love with Rachel's boyfriend's stepbrother. Was that even legal? Rachel pondered this matter the rest of the ride home.

When they arrived at the Berry house, Rachel turned to Finn with a brilliant smile. "Thanks for the ride, Finn," she said.

Before she could go on, he asked, "Wait… weren't we going to – "

"I really need to rehearse my lines a bit better," Rachel replied, patting his hand. "Maybe tomorrow?"

He looked almost like a kicked puppy, and Rachel would've surely given in if she hadn't become immune to that look by now – one simply had to when living in the same house as her brother Blaine, who had that kicked puppy look down to an art. She _did_ kiss Finn goodbye for longer than was strictly necessary, but then, she headed towards the house and went inside.

As she entered, she immediately knew that Blaine wasn't home yet. He usually did his homework in the kitchen, with music playing, but the entire house sounded empty now. She shouldn't have expected anything different, she figured, as she placed her bag on one of the kitchen chairs and poured herself some water. Her brother nearly always went for coffee with Kurt after school.

She frowned. Kurt had said earlier today that he might have to help his dad out at the shop, since Finn had football practice. She heaved a sigh when she realised that Blaine must've called some of his _other friends_, then. Well – their other friends, both Blaine's and Kurt's. Why on earth they'd befriended some of the Warblers was beyond Rachel. She didn't trust those private school boys, no matter how nice they appeared to be on the outside. They must be up to something, and charming two of the most bullied students – the only two openly gay kids – at McKinley with their tales of what sounded like a gay utopia was only the first step in their plan to world domination. Which, in Rachel's mind, currently equalled advancing to and winning Nationals.

It didn't matter that it had been Kurt and Blaine who had approached _them_ – not the other way around – last year at Sectionals. They'd only wanted to ask a few questions about Dalton, but had somehow become good friends with some of the boys. Rachel was well aware of the fact that most of the guys in New Directions had initially been very reluctant of the two gay boys, but hadn't they gotten much better by now? Clearly, that wasn't the case, so Blaine and Kurt had gone elsewhere. That didn't stop Rachel from distrusting the Warblers, though.

She walked from the kitchen to her bedroom, intending to quickly get her homework out of the way before focusing on rehearsing her parts. After all, if she couldn't keep up with her schoolwork before being officially cast, she would never be able to do her schoolwork once rehearsals began. Or worse – maybe they'd ban her from being in the play if she started falling behind.

Rachel had just finished her homework when the front door opened and closed, and she was out of her room in an instant. Blaine seemed to be in a better mood than he had been when he'd left her on the stage. Thinking back to earlier outbursts (no matter how small) of his, Rachel suddenly came to a realisation.

Blaine must've seen Kurt, or spoken to him, in between leaving the school and now.

It was actually kind of adorable.

"What are you smiling at?" Oh. He'd noticed her staring down at him from the top of the stairs, then.

"Just – " she started. "I thought Kurt had to work today."

Blaine shook his head, smiling, before frowning. "His dad allowed him to leave early. How did you know?"

Rachel skipped down the stairs. "Your face. I can't believe I didn't notice earlier that you're completely head over heels for him. It's all over your face, Blaine."

"It's that obvious?" Blaine asked, sounding kind of alarmed. "Do you think he knows? Oh, God, he probably knows, and he's probably trying to figure out how to get rid of me – he's probably going to apply to colleges all over the country and we'll never find out where he really went – "

"Blaine," Rachel interrupted him. "You know just as well as I do that Kurt wants to go to New York. And I doubt he'll want to get away from you."

Blaine sighed heavily before walking into the kitchen, Rachel following suit. "It's just… sometimes I wonder. We've known each other for over two years now. If he liked me… why hasn't he said or done anything yet?"

"Maybe for the same reason why you've never said or done anything?" Rachel suggested, sitting down opposite Blaine.

"I just don't want to ruin our friendship," Blaine muttered. "Whether he rejects me immediately or something goes wrong further down the road… our friendship will never be the same again."

"Perhaps it'll just… make your friendship that much stronger," Rachel countered. "You've known each other for two years. That could be a good foundation for a romantic relationship."

"I first thought I just liked him because he was the only other gay guy of our age that I knew," Blaine said quietly. "Then we met the Warblers, and through them some other people, too. A few of them were gay. None of them compared to Kurt, though. They still don't." A few seconds passed before Blaine continued speaking. "I want to tell him, and I really want him to like me back. But even if that all happened… next year, you're going to New York, and long distance… I'm not sure if that works."

"Hey, you don't know until you've tried, right?" Rachel smiled at him. "Seriously, Blaine… I think you should just tell him. Or should I talk to him? I'll talk to him first, see if he'll give me any clues. I _do_ expect to be the maid of honour at your wedding in exchange, though. Then again, I'm your only sister and Kurt's other best friend, so I suppose that title would be mine regardless. But knowing you two, neither of you will every make a move at this rate and there will never be a wedding, so I'll have to step up and help you out if I ever want that wedding to take place."

Blaine stared at her as if she was crazy for a few seconds. "I just told you that I like him a couple of hours ago, and you're planning our wedding already? Rachel – "

"No, not planning your wedding," Rachel denied. "I'm sure Kurt will want to do that himself. Oh! Do you want me to sneak into his room next time I'm at their house and check his wedding scrap book for any signs of him wanting you to be the lucky guy?"

Blaine just looked a little scared, now. In the end, he found his ability to speak again. "So I take it you're okay with this?"

"Of course!" Rachel exclaimed. "Just think of how fun family gatherings will be! And we can go on double dates all the time!" Growing serious, she added, "And I can't think of anyone better for my baby brother than my best friend, and the other way around. Yes, I expect you to not steal Kurt away from me any further, but I'm sure we can reach a compromise for that later. Now, we first have to set you two up. You clearly want to get together with him before I'll inevitably have to kiss him for _West Side Story_, so we've only got a few weeks, seeing as there'll probably be some kissing during rehearsals as well. What did you have in mind?" However, Rachel ploughed on without letting Blaine actually suggest something. "I'll talk to him tomorrow, okay? See if there's anyone he's got his eye on. If that doesn't lead to him confessing that he's in love with you too, I'll try to gently steer him towards that realisation."

"Knowing you, that means you'll flat out tell him that he should date me," Blaine muttered.

Rachel pressed her lips together. "I'll try to be more considerate than that," she promised. If Blaine hadn't said anything, that would've been her strategy indeed. "Maybe I could ask Finn to help out…," she mused.

"You mean your boyfriend who has even less of a filter than you have?" Blaine asked, and Rachel scoffed.

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you."

"At least I'm working on it!" Blaine exclaimed. "Just – don't ask Finn to help, okay? I'm sure he means well, but he'd just… I don't know, try to ask Kurt if he likes me over dinner, be completely obvious about it."

"Fine," Rachel said, sulking a bit. At least she hadn't mentioned anything to Finn earlier. "I'll just talk to him tomorrow. We've got our second period together, after all."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: I don't have an awful lot to say about this. There are a few POV switches, but those should be clear, I think. Hopefully you'll enjoy this, and please leave a review at the bottom! :D

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><p>Only when Blaine was on his way to the Lima Bean for his early morning coffee the next day, he remembered what he'd told Rachel the day before, and her promise to try to get some information out of Kurt today. It was a good thing he realised this as he was waiting for the traffic light to turn green, because he was certain he would've caused some sort of accident if he'd been driving.<p>

He knew that Rachel meant well and, okay, maybe he was tired of only being friends with Kurt by now. That didn't mean he wasn't afraid of what Rachel would do. She'd promised to try to keep it vague, but Blaine wasn't sure if she could do that. He'd better enjoy this coffee meeting, because chances were there wouldn't be another one.

When he arrived at the Lima Bean parking lot, he instantly recognised Kurt's Navigator. Swallowing thickly as he got out of his car, Blaine walked into the shop. It didn't take him long to find Kurt; after all, they practically had their own table. Even if they wouldn't have one, though, Kurt stood out enough to be recognised anywhere.

"Hey," Blaine greeted his best friend happily as he sat down. He eagerly took a sip from the Medium Drip Kurt had already got him – the first one to arrive bought them both coffee, and the latter one would buy their afternoon coffees. Blaine had practically demanded that after Kurt had shown up early every day one week, and Blaine couldn't stand having his crush buy all his coffee.

Kurt smiled back at him. "Good morning, Blaine."

Blaine took another sip from his coffee before glancing up again, only to realise that Kurt was already scrutinising him closely. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly. "Do I have something on my face?" That would be horrifying. It didn't matter that they'd already seen each other in all kinds of embarrassing situations.

Kurt shook his head. He bit his lip briefly – a movement that definitely caught Blaine's attention – before speaking up. "I heard about your audition."

Blaine cocked his head to the side, not understanding. "Well, yes. You asked me about that yesterday, didn't you?"

"Finn told me some stuff you didn't tell me, though," Kurt replied. "He heard certain… things from Rachel."

Blaine paled, and he was sure he went rigid in his seat. Oh, he was going to kill Rachel the next time he saw her. He didn't care that that would probably be at school and there'd be hundreds of witnesses around. She had promised him she wouldn't tell Finn about Blaine's feelings – well, of course she could promise him that when she'd already talked to her boyfriend beforehand! "Kurt – ," he started pleadingly. "I can explain."

Then again, maybe he couldn't, if Kurt kept looking at him with those beautiful eyes of his. "Well, according to Finn, Rachel blamed your obliviousness to the fact that Tony and Maria were lovers to the fact that you were so passionate about finding and rehearsing your audition piece," Kurt said. "Or was it something else?"

Blaine was certain that he still had that deer caught in headlights look on his face, but he couldn't help but feel relieved. Kurt hadn't found out about Blaine being in love with him after all. "No," he said once he'd regained the ability to speak. "That's exactly the reason."

Kurt nodded. "Finn also told me that Rachel practically told you to withdraw because neither of you, understandably, wants to kiss the other and she thinks that she has more of a right to be one of the leads in the play than you have."

"Because I'm only a junior and can be the lead next year, and she needs the role to have a better shot at getting into NYADA." Blaine paused for a moment. "As do you."

Kurt sighed. "That's entirely true. However, if you deserve that role, as I'm sure you do, Rachel shouldn't try to take it away from you. We've been stupid, and naïve, Blaine, to think that we were unique and that we would get into any prestigious performing arts school just like that. So yes, this may be one of our last chances at getting some kind of credits. I know that you don't know exactly where you want to go after you graduate, but with your family, it'll probably have to do with performing arts as well, and who are we to tell you that you can't start building up a resume already, just because we didn't?"

Once again, Blaine was reminded of why he loved this boy opposite him so much, even if said boy had no clue. "I just don't want to have to kiss Rachel," he muttered, and Kurt chuckled.

"Well, she's not on my list of people I want to make out with either," he replied. "I've kissed a girl before, and that wasn't the most pleasant experience." Blaine could understand that. The week Kurt had pretended to be straight and dated Brittany was one of the darkest of his life. "However, I'm willing to put that… aversion of kissing girls aside for this play. It's… part of the deal, I suppose. I get that, since she's your sister, that's out of question, though."

"So do you think I would make a better Riff or Bernardo?" Blaine asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Don't forget that Rachel's not the only one trying out for Maria, Blaine," he reminded him. "While Rachel may think she's nowhere as good as herself, I definitely think Mercedes stands a chance at being cast as Maria. You've heard her sing countless times, haven't you? She's an amazing performer."

Blaine nodded thoughtfully. "I know. But Rachel is just… Rachel. But you're right, aversion of kissing girls aside, I'd much rather kiss Mercedes for a play than my own sister."

o-o-o-o-o

After her first period, Rachel marched down the halls with a purpose. She had to find Kurt and talk to him about Blaine. The more she thought about it, the more perfect she realised the two boys were for one another. Sure, if they ever were to break up, things might get awkward, but she trusted them to handle everything maturely. She would've tried to talk to him before first period, but Kurt and Blaine, after staying at the Lima Bean for as long as possible, always walked into class moments before the bell went.

"Kurt!" she called out to her best friend after she'd spotted him at his locker. "Hi!"

He just raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey, Rachel," he greeted her.

As he turned his attention back to his locker right after that, Rachel asked, "Have I told you about my audition yet?"

"We haven't talked since before your audition, so no, you haven't." Of course, Rachel already knew this, but she hadn't been able to come up with a better opening. Kurt, however, wasn't done speaking yet. "Finn has, though, and Blaine has as well." Rachel scrutinised him, looking for any indication that could point towards Kurt liking Blaine as more than a friend – such as him flushing or stuttering when saying her brother's name. None of those things happened, though. "Rachel, what you're doing is pretty selfish, you know that, right? You can't just expect other people to give up the role of their dreams just so you can get whatever role you want. I doubt that's how it works on Broadway."

Rachel crossed her arms in protest. "I doubt I'll have to play opposite my brother romantically on Broadway."

"That's true," Kurt admitted. "I just think it would've been slightly more acceptable if you'd just asked him not to audition for Tony when you first heard about _West Side Story_ being this year's school musical. Now you've both been preparing for weeks and Blaine's looking forward to being in the musical as well. You can't just deny him that because it doesn't fit your plans."

"So you'd rather Blaine was cast as Tony and you and I have no chance whatsoever at getting into NYADA than both of us having some sort of chance at it?" Rachel asked. "Besides, I never said he shouldn't be in the musical at all. As my brother, I'm sure he'll kill the role of Bernardo. I mean, it sucks that you'd have to fake-kill him, but…" She shrugged.

Kurt finally finished organising his books and looked back at her. "I suppose we'll just have to wait for everyone to audition and for the cast list to go up," he said with finality. "Come on, let's just go to class."

He walked away and Rachel followed suit. "So," she started once she'd caught up with him. "You think Blaine could handle being the male lead in a school play?"

Kurt stared at her as if she'd gone crazy. "Of course," he replied. "Besides, it's not like any of us has more experience than he does in that department."

Rachel smiled brightly. "Well, he _is_ a pretty decent singer, don't you think? He has this amazing stage presence that just makes everyone want to look at him. Have you ever noticed that, Kurt? Hey, you know what? If Mr Schue decides to have another duets competition, you should sing together! I'm sure it would sound amazing!"

"In case you'd already forgotten, Rachel," Kurt replied, sounding a little annoyed, "we sang together for last year's duets competition. We sing together in the car all the time, and of course it sounds amazing."

Rachel was surprised – in a good way, though. She'd always thought they only sang in the car when she was present, and only because she practically forced them to do so. "Good," she commented. "You probably have amazing chemistry, don't you?" Was that too much? Did that imply that both boys had a romantic interest in one another? How would Kurt interpret it?

As she glanced up at him, though, she saw that he was just rolling his eyes at her statement. By now, they'd arrived at their classroom, and Kurt instantly went to sit with Mercedes. That could've gone better, Rachel figured. Still, she hadn't asked Kurt if he would be interested in dating Blaine or something along those lines. Hastily sitting down at Kurt's other side, Rachel caught Mercedes' eye. The other girl narrowed her eyes slightly, and Rachel shifted in her seat before looking at the front of the classroom. She was still the most obvious candidate for the role of Maria, she kept repeating to herself. Mercedes, most likely, was well aware of that herself, and may be just a little hostile because of it.

o-o-o-o-o

Although Blaine was anxious to find out what exactly Rachel had asked Kurt, he wasn't about to miss a coffee meeting for it. He'd texted Kurt to ask if his father needed his help again, but that didn't appear to be the case. Blaine was relieved that Kurt was still willing to walk to him.

"They're still very much in doubt," Kurt told him as they were waiting in line at the Lima Bean.

"What?" Blaine shook himself out of his thoughts. Had he missed Kurt saying something again?

"The directors." Kurt glanced around quickly. "My… sources tell me that you are most definitely their favourite for the role of Tony, but since they loved Rachel's and Mercedes' auditions equally, they're not sure how to go about choosing one."

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Blaine said. "I know how much you wanted – well, still want – that role."

Kurt shrugged, though Blaine could see it bothered him. "I should've seen it coming. I'm not exactly… masculine." Blaine shot him a look; he certainly begged to differ, although he wasn't going to say that out loud. "Well, society in general doesn't think I'm masculine enough for a role like Tony. At least you could pass for straight if you wanted to."

After ordering and paying for their coffees, the two of them sat down at their regular table once again. "So I take it Mercedes' audition went well?" Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded. "From what I heard, it was mind-blowing. Oh, by the way – Rachel was quite partial to you being Bernardo instead of Riff. I think you should still go for Tony, though."

"So she wants her brother to play her intended character's brother?" Blaine shook his head, smiling slightly. "We wouldn't really be acting anymore. But I'm sure our dads would love it."

"I think you should not go for Bernardo, though," Kurt said after a few seconds. "Simply because it might get all weird _again_ if you do that and Mercedes beats Rachel and they offer Rachel the role of Anita instead."

Blaine groaned. "Yes, okay. But Mike's auditioning for Riff tomorrow, isn't he? He's been practising his singing the entire summer for something like this, I couldn't just take that away from him…"

Especially since Mike was the only guy in Glee club who'd never given him or Kurt any trouble about being gay, and also Blaine's only male friend at McKinley, apart from Kurt.

"I'm sure they'll figure something out," Kurt said with a smile.

"Speaking of figuring things out," Blaine said, "what are you going to do now that Brittany's running for class president as well? I think her flash mob or whatever you'd like to call it was pretty effective in order to win the votes of… well, a lot of people who sorely lack in intelligence or who just want a girl to win."

Kurt sighed. "I know. And unfortunately, there are a _lot_ of those people at McKinley. What Brittany did was cheap, but, yes, also very effective. It's what society wants from us, after all."

Before either of them could say anything else, a tall boy with an arrogant smirk stopped next to their table. Blaine glanced confusedly from the boy to Kurt, who had his eyes narrowed at the stranger.

"Well, hello," the stranger said. "You must be Blaine… and Kurt."

"Yes," Kurt snapped, "that's us. And who are you?" Only now did Blaine realise that the boy was, in fact, wearing a Dalton uniform.

The boy smirked again. "Sebastian," he introduced himself, taking a seat at their table. "Sebastian Smythe."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: My apologies for not posting this earlier! First there was Klaine week, and then... well, stuff. So here you go :) Hopefully you'll enjoy it, and please leave a review! :)

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><p>Kurt and Blaine exchanged looks. None of their friends had ever mentioned a Sebastian Smythe, even though this guy obviously went to Dalton.<p>

"Sebastian Smythe," Kurt repeated, narrowing his eyes at the boy. "What do you want from us?"

"Now, that's not very nice of you," Sebastian reprimanded Kurt. "I simply wanted to meet the guys some of my fellow Warblers can't shut up about. Though – no. I actually just wanted to meet Blaine here, but they already warned me you were pretty much a package deal."

Blaine shot Kurt an uncertain glance. "Why would you want to meet me?" he asked Sebastian.

"Come on," Sebastian said, looking Blaine up and down from where he was sitting. He smirked. "Who _wouldn't_ want to meet you?"

Blaine sat there, frozen, for a moment, before blinking slowly. Was he being flirted with? It sure sounded like it. But why would this guy come here and flirt with him? "Uh," was all he was able to say at that moment.

"Look, Smythe," Kurt started, sounding even more annoyed than he had before. It was actually kind of hot, Blaine thought, before reprimanding himself. He really shouldn't go there, least of all in public. "We were having what you'd call a private conversation here, and we didn't invite you to join us, so if you'd just leave us alone, I won't call the zoo to tell them I've found their escaped meerkat."

Sebastian just smirked a little wider. "So rude," he remarked. "I only just got here; it would be a right shame if I left already."

"The only rude person here is you," Kurt retorted. "You're the one sticking your nose in other people's business, not me."

"I don't see why you're so upset," Sebastian replied. "You must have conversations all the time, considering the fact that you're such good… friends." Suddenly, something dawned on Blaine. He hoped it wasn't true, though. "Anyway, if both of you want me to go so badly, I'll go. But Blaine, we should hang out soon. How about this weekend, at Scandals?"

"Scandals?" Kurt exclaimed, sounding, well, rather scandalised. "The gay bar?"

"Yes, and I wasn't talking to _you_," Sebastian responded. "_You're_ not invited. So, Blaine… what do you say?"

Blaine's eyes widened as he felt both boys' eyes on him. He didn't even know this guy, and he wanted to take Blaine to a gay bar? Truthfully, Blaine wasn't really planning on going to such a bar anytime soon. So why wasn't he saying anything? "I – I don't think that's a good idea," he said. "Sorry, Sebastian, but gay bars aren't really my thing."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure I could make it worth your while." When Blaine didn't react, he asked, "So, what _is_ your thing, then?"

"Stuff that doesn't involve the likes of you," Kurt snapped, and Blaine glanced at him again. He didn't think he'd ever seen Kurt this irritated before, which was saying something, because Kurt and Rachel had often gotten into fights, especially during their sophomore year. Blaine _really_ shouldn't be feeling this turned on, though.

Sebastian, on the other hand, looked entirely unimpressed by Kurt or his words. He almost looked amused. "Well, isn't that a pity," he drawled. "Blaine, let me know when you change your mind. Goodbye for now, boys."

Kurt was still fuming after Sebastian walked out. Blaine looked on for a moment, growing slightly worried. "He's gone, you know," he commented. This seemed to break Kurt out of his reverie.

"Of course, yes," he said. "Sorry about that. I can't stand the guy."

Blaine frowned confusedly. "You only just met him. Right?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah. I know. But – sometimes you just can't stand certain people, you know?"

No, Blaine didn't know – he generally didn't dislike people on principle – and he knew that Kurt knew that as well. So he just made a noncommittal sound, and asked, "Anyway, what are you planning on doing in order to defeat Brittany?"

o-o-o-o-o

During dinner that night, there was a certain tension in the air that Blaine wasn't sure what to think of. They spent most of the meal in absolute silence. The last time that had happened, was when Rachel had had laryngitis near the end of her sophomore year.

Their parents seemed to notice it as well. "Rachel, are you okay?" one of them asked, when Rachel didn't talk even after fifteen minutes.

"I'm fine," she exclaimed, though her voice sounded somewhat strangled. "Nothing's… wrong." She hastily shoved the remainder of food on her plate into her mouth, swallowed, and said, "I should – go do my homework, if that's okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, though, she ran off, to her room. "Did something happen at school?" their other father asked Blaine.

"I have no idea," Blaine replied, staring after his sister. "I haven't really talked to her. Oh – Mercedes auditioned today for the role of Maria, maybe that's it. Kurt heard that she was phenomenal. What?" he asked, when his fathers exchanged knowing looks.

"Nothing, nothing." When he obviously didn't buy it, they said, "Why don't you go check up on Rachel? We'll clear off the table tonight."

Still a little suspicious, Blaine stood up slowly and walked upstairs as well, only to stop dead in his tracks halfway. Was he being so obvious about his feelings for Kurt that even his dads had figured it out? He groaned. He'd have to tell Kurt soon, or someone else would undoubtedly do so.

"Rachel?" he called as he came to a standstill in front of her room. He knocked the door once. "Rach? Are you okay?"

The door flew open. "Come on," Rachel said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him inside. She still looked a little… paranoid, almost, though Blaine couldn't think of why that would be the case. "So, I talked to Kurt today," she said.

Blaine nodded. "Yeah, he told me about that. Kind of."

"He's too chivalrous for his own good," Rachel commented. "Even if it's going to nullify his chances at getting into NYADA, he wants you to have the lead role in the musical if the directors want you to have it – in which case you should give up the role yourself."

"What?" That didn't make any sense. Then again, it was Rachel.

"Yes. Besides the fact that Kurt and I need those roles more than you do, you like him, right? You're in love with him. So what's a better way to show that than giving up your dream role for him? I bet Kurt could appreciate a grand gesture like that."

"I know Kurt appreciates theatricality as much as you do, Rach," Blaine said, "but – " Damn it. He couldn't exactly tell Rachel what Kurt had told him in confidence, right? Besides, who knew what Rachel would do when she found out that she had only won the _Defying Gravity_ diva-off or whatever it had been because Kurt had sabotaged himself after his father had gotten that phone call? His father meant more to Kurt than winning that competition; while Blaine realised that he could never mean as much to Kurt as Kurt's father, that didn't mean that Kurt would actually let him do this, right? He had even told Blaine as much. "I doubt he'll accept it."

Rachel sighed, clearly not happy with the turn of events. "He didn't say anything about having romantic feelings for you," she then said. "I didn't notice anything off about him. He _did_ say that you're a great performer, though, and he'd be happy to sing another duet with you if you were up to it. In Glee club, I mean. Not – not in the car."

"Uh – okay." Blaine wasn't exactly opposed to that either. He already knew, though, that Kurt thought he was a great performer. Not to sound cocky, or anything – Kurt just told him that after each and every song Blaine performed. Blaine always told Kurt the same thing.

"So this can mean two things." Rachel looked him right in the eye. "One, Kurt has no romantic feelings for you. Or, he's had romantic feelings for you for as long as I'm on speaking terms with him. You know, otherwise I would've noticed a change in his behaviour at some point, don't you think?"

"You've been on speaking terms for… at least over a year now," Blaine said. "I doubt he's had feelings for me for that long, so it must be the first option." As depressing as that might be. Before Rachel could try to prove him wrong – he didn't think she could, though – he said, "I'm just – gonna go do my homework now."

About an hour or so later, Blaine was already done. Staring at his laptop screen, he suddenly remembered what he'd thought of earlier that day. He quickly closed his laptop, leant over to grab his phone from his nightstand, and scrolled through the contacts.

It was time to confront Nick and Jeff, and whoever else was in on their plan, about a certain new teammate of theirs.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? :) Let me know, please review!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: I really don't have a lot to say here. This one was pretty fun to write :) One note: the announcing of the Maria-off obviously didn't happen right after Brittany's performance here, but the next day. I also think there'll be a bit of a time jump soon, like in canon, but if that does, I'll let you know (it wouldn't happen until after next chapter anyway).

Hopefully, you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom of the page! :)

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><p>When Blaine arrived at the Lima Bean the next morning, Kurt was still fuming. Blaine just greeted him, gave him a smile, sat down and thanked him for the coffee, but didn't ask why he was so angry. He had never seen Kurt get as worked up about something as he had yesterday with Sebastian, so it was rather likely that Kurt was still mad about that meeting. Blaine refused to think about what it could (but probably didn't) imply, though.<p>

Nick and Jeff had confessed rather easily that they had, indeed, sent Sebastian after Blaine, just like Blaine had suspected. It was their way of helping, they'd said. After all, whether Kurt finally manned up and acted on his feelings (the ones Blaine still wasn't sure were even there) or Blaine accepted a date with Sebastian and might grow to like the other boy, both things would work out for him.

However, Blaine had no idea if Kurt was this worked up about the meeting because he was in love with Blaine or because he saw Blaine as a friend or even a younger brother and he wanted to protect him from the likes of Sebastian.

"How did Rachel react to Mercedes' audition, by the way?" Kurt broke the silence all of a sudden, before lifting his cup to his mouth. Blaine had to remind himself not to stare, so instead, he glanced down at his own coffee.

"She didn't say anything during dinner," Blaine answered. "Afterwards, she locked herself up in her room." He shook his head.

Kurt nodded pensively. "I wonder how the directors are going to solve that problem," he said. "Mercedes and Rachel both great singers, they'd both be perfect for Maria in their own ways… I doubt the directors will have it as easy as when they had to decide who would be the better Tony."

"Well, look on the bright side," Blaine remarked. "If they cast both of them… they'll probably cast both of us as well."

Plus, he suddenly realised, if both he and Kurt got the same roles, they might have to work together sometimes to improve. Neither of them would probably play another role, too, so Blaine wouldn't have to do anything when Kurt performed. He could easily sit in the audience and just watch – and look away whenever Kurt and Rachel had to kiss, of course.

That caused Kurt to finally smile. "That's true," he agreed. "Though I wonder if Rachel and Mercedes won't first get angry about it. I don't mind not getting it or having to share, but… they'll probably want that role for themselves."

Blaine rolled his eyes theatrically. "Girls," he said. "Stuff like this makes me happy I'm gay."

Kurt hummed (Blaine hoped in agreement). "Are you saying that guys aren't competitive?"

"No," Blaine replied, surprised. "Not at all. I just – "

"It's fine," Kurt assured him. "And just for the record, I'm glad you – I'm glad I'm gay too."

Blaine grinned. Good. "Let's head to school."

o-o-o-o-o

When Blaine had asked, Nick and Jeff had also admitted that they hadn't seen Sebastian since before he'd gone to Lima, but assured him that that was nothing to be worried about. After all, Sebastian disappeared quite often after class (pretty much whenever there wasn't a Warblers rehearsal), and returned only the next day shortly before class, reeking, as Nick put it, an awful lot of sex. Blaine had pulled a face at that and asked if they hadn't been able to procure a slightly classier guy for their scheme, but that hadn't seemed to be an option.

At the moment, Blaine was sitting in math class with Tina, both of them rather bored as they already knew most of what was explained. When they were told to start their homework assignments and were allowed to discuss them amongst themselves, Tina asked Blaine, "When will you hear about whether or not you got the role of Tony?"

Blaine shrugged. "I don't know," he whispered back. "Once the directors have figured out who'd make the best Maria, I guess. Are you auditioning for any role?"

Tina shook her head. "I don't think I could beat Mercedes and Rachel for Maria, and besides, I don't really want a lead. Next year, maybe, but not now. I think I'll end up as one of the Sharks' girls. Not Anita, obviously; Santana would kill me if I got that part."

"You'd make a great Anita, I bet," Blaine told her. "But you're right." Santana was pretty scary, after all. It didn't help that she seemed to dislike Blaine simply because he was Rachel's brother, and he got more solos than Santana herself. "And next year, you'll blow us all out of the water."

Tina ducked her head, grinning. "Isn't Kurt annoyed about not getting the role of Tony, though?" she enquired. "At least, not entirely?"

Blaine couldn't help but smile, though he flushed when Tina grinned knowingly. Damn it. "Everyone knows, right?" he asked instead of answering Tina's question.

For a moment, she looked confused. "What – oh. Yeah, pretty much. Everyone in Glee, at least."

Blaine groaned audibly, before flashing their teacher – who'd looked at him oddly – a quick smile. "Great. It's really a miracle that Kurt hasn't found out yet."

"I don't think Finn knows, though," Tina said. "Which is pretty strange, seeing as he's dating Rachel."

"Rachel didn't know either until a couple of days ago," Blaine replied, and Tina seemed surprised.

"Really? Oh." She frowned. "Well, it's a good thing she hasn't told him anyway. I can't imagine what would happen if Finn brought it up during dinner some time."

Blaine was mortified by the idea alone. "I don't really _want_ to imagine."

o-o-o-o-o

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful – apart from the news that Mike's audition had gone swimmingly and the news that there would be a 'Maria-off' the next day to decide whether Rachel or Mercedes would get the part of Maria – until Blaine got a call from an unknown number when he was at the Lima Bean. When Blaine glanced up from his screen, Kurt cocked his head to the side confusedly.

"Shouldn't you pick up?" he asked.

"I don't – " Blaine started, but shrugged and picked up before he could finish. He just hoped it wasn't one of _those_ calls. If so, they'd been incredibly stupid, because Blaine could still see their number and report them. Not that that would help, but still. "Hello?" he asked. "Who's –"

"Hey, Blaine," a voice he vaguely recognised said, and Blaine stiffened.

"Sebastian?" he asked incredulously, and Kurt instantly looked up from his own phone, his eyes narrowing. "What – how did you get my number?"

"Nick and Jeff," Sebastian replied carelessly. "Anyway, I was wondering if – "

"Just hold on a second," Blaine interrupted him, before getting up and gesturing towards the exit so Kurt would know where he was going. Once he was outside, he leant against the wall and said, "Look, Sebastian, I know what you're doing."

"Oh?" Sebastian sounded awfully amused. "And what is that?"

"I know that Nick and Jeff put you up to this," Blaine clarified. "So why are you calling me now? Would that really help?"

"They told me you'd figured it out," Sebastian remarked. "As for why… let me guess, you two were having coffee again in that… quaint coffee shop of yours?"

"Yes, we were," Blaine admitted begrudgingly. "And what – "

"So he knows we're on the phone now, correct?" Sebastian continued, smirk evident in his voice.

"…Yes," Blaine replied. "But – "

"He's probably getting more and more jealous every second," Sebastian said. "Besides, you are a hot piece of ass, Blaine Anderson, and – "

"Whoa," Blaine said, his eyes widening. "Not – not interested, Sebastian, remember?"

"I never said I wanted a relationship with you," Sebastian scoffed. "I don't _do_ those, Blaine. No, I'm merely thinking about – "

"No." Blaine shook his head wildly, even though Sebastian couldn't see him. "Again, not interested. Bye, Sebastian."

With pounding heart, Blaine walked back in. Kurt was still at their table, though the good mood he'd been in this afternoon (at least compared to that morning) seemed to have disappeared. Instead, he was practically glaring at the table.

"Hey," Blaine said, sitting back down. "You okay?"

Kurt shrugged. "Fine. What did the meerkat want?"

"Just – " Blaine hesitated. Should he tell Kurt that Sebastian had pretty much propositioned him over the phone? It seemed like he hesitated a moment too long, as Kurt huffed.

"That's okay, you don't have to tell me." He picked up his phone from the table and added, "My dad just texted, he needs my help at the garage. I'll see you tomorrow, Blaine."

Before Blaine could react, Kurt was already halfway out the door, and Blaine spun in his seat, staring after his best friend non-understandingly. What just happened?

They never just _left_. Except for that one time when they were fighting about Blaine drunkenly kissing Quinn at his and Rachel's party last school year. Blaine, after drinking more alcohol than ever before, had entertained the thought of asking Quinn out, simply to figure out if he _really_ didn't like girls. Kurt had not been happy, and in hindsight, Blaine was glad that he hadn't asked out Quinn. That would've made things incredibly awkward, and besides, he was still in love with Kurt. What did it matter if he liked girls as well as boys, then?

o-o-o-o-o

The next day, Kurt texted him that he couldn't meet Blaine for coffee before school, and that upset Blaine more than he thought it would. The only times they didn't go for coffee were when one (or both) of them were ill or on a holiday. He also didn't understand why Kurt was so angry about this. He had been fine with Blaine taking the lead role in _West Side Story_ away from him, but he got angry when Blaine was on the phone with a guy Blaine didn't like all that much?

Once again, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Rachel's told him that this definitely meant that Kurt liked him; that he was jealous. Blaine pushed the thought aside once again, though he had more trouble doing that this time around. The other excuses he tried to come up with seemed to become less probably every time he thought about it.

When it was time for the Maria-off, Blaine arrived at the auditorium just when most people were already sitting down. Perfect. Kurt was sitting all alone, which was even more perfect.

Grinning to himself, Blaine sat down in the seat next to him, and Kurt looked up, startled. "Hey," Blaine greeted him before Kurt could say anything. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Kurt was already becoming defensive. "Why would anything be wrong?"

Blaine rolled his eyes. "You've been avoiding me all day. Ever since yesterday afternoon, actually. You only texted me to tell me you couldn't make it to the Lima Bean this morning, that was all. Why?"

Kurt sighed. "I was just… thinking. And I figured that you might want some time to… do whatever you were doing with Sebastian."

"Sebastian asked me – " Blaine started, before sighing. "He's… not the person I wanted to be hanging out with. So I didn't. I haven't talked to him since he called me yesterday."

"Sorry," Kurt muttered after a few seconds. "I shouldn't have ignored you."

"No," Blaine agreed. "You really shouldn't have. But I know how you can make it up to me…"

Oh gosh. That came out completely wrong. To make matters even worse, Santana and Brittany were sitting one row behind them, and Santana wasn't even trying to cover up her snickering. It also didn't help that Kurt was looking at him confusedly.

"Okay…," Kurt said in the end. "Let's… discuss that later, okay?"

Blaine nodded, eager to leave that topic behind for now. Besides, it looked like the Maria-off was about to start.

o-o-o-o-o

Kurt ultimately decided to buy Blaine coffee and whatever he wanted with that for a week (no matter how much Blaine protested) in order to make it up to him. As they sat at their usual table and talked about anything and everything, Kurt was the one to get a call this time.

Blaine observed him as he picked up and listened, which made it all the more easy to notice when exactly Kurt's posture stiffened and his eyes clouded over. "I see," he said in a clipped tone, his eyes finding Blaine's. "Thanks for calling, coach."

Blaine almost didn't dare to ask. "What was wrong?"

Kurt breathed out slowly. "Rachel's running for class president as well now."

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><p><strong>AN**: Dundundun. Yeah, we all knew that was coming already, right? Anyway - what did you think? Let me know, please review!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: So this is not as long as the last part, but I hope you'll like it anyway :) I'm still not sure whether to jump forward in time as well a few weeks, like it happened on the show, or not (at least not in that capacity). So we'll see. There's not really much to explain here, so... hopefully you'll enjoy it :) Please leave a review when you're done!

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><p>Blaine stared at him for a moment. "Seriously?" he asked. "Did she – oh, you've got to be kidding me."<p>

"I wish I was," Kurt replied, frowning at his phone. "She went to see coach Beiste today after the Maria-off. I bet she did it because she's unsure of whether she'll get the part, but…"

"There should've been something else she could've done instead," Blaine finished for him. "Especially since she's already in practically every club in school."

"She doesn't need this," Kurt agreed. "So why would she do this?"

Blaine's face fell. He hated that he couldn't help Kurt somehow; it wasn't like Rachel would listen to him. "Come on," he said, "let's get out of here."

"Where are we going?" Kurt asked, confused. He still followed Blaine out, though.

"I don't know," Blaine replied. "Why don't you decide?"

o-o-o-o-o

It was a necessary measure. She hadn't wanted to, but she had to. Surely Kurt would understand that. There was no way she would get the role of Maria – or rather, she wouldn't be the only one to get the part – and she needed _something_ to put on her application for NYADA. She would make Kurt vice-president and then they'd both have something. Now, she only needed to get some ideas for her campaign, and she'd be all set. Beating Brittany should be easy, and Rachel was sure that there were heaps of people who didn't like the hockey guy.

She was brainstorming in the kitchen when the front door opened, and Rachel looked up in surprise. Normally, neither her fathers nor Blaine were home so early.

However, there were just footsteps running up the stairs, and about half a minute later, they came downstairs again. Rachel got up from the table as quietly as she could and peeked into the hallway. Thankfully, it was only Blaine.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

Blaine turned around, shooting her an annoyed look. "Out," he said. "I don't think I'll be back in time for dinner."

Rachel glared back. "You can't just do that."

"Since when do you have any say in what I do?" Blaine shot back. "I'm leaving now, Rach. I'm really disappointed in you."

He turned back around and walked out of the door, closing it behind him.

He was disappointed in her? Rachel huffed. Yeah, right. If anything, he should be applauding her persistence in making her dreams come true when others (like Blaine himself) made them near impossible to reach.

o-o-o-o-o

"Thanks again for doing this," Kurt said for what had to be the fourth time since they'd exited the Lima Bean. They'd driven to Blaine's house first, where Blaine had dropped off his own car, before moving on to the mall.

"Really, it's no problem," Blaine repeated, smiling. "Besides, I know how well retail therapy lifts your spirits."

Kurt rolled his eyes, but strolled on, dragging Blaine along to all the stores he wanted to hit. Blaine was well aware of the fact that his feet would be dead by the end of this – he'd had two years of practice by now, yes, but he wasn't a pro like Kurt just yet – but it was all worth it. Kurt was worth it.

Blaine really sounded like a sap in his head.

They talked about all kinds of things, though mostly about musicals – there were a couple of shows being performed in various community theatres nearby and the boys still hadn't quite made up their minds about which one (or ones) to attend. Sometimes, Kurt would try to make Blaine try on some clothes as well, and every now and then, Blaine actually did so. He usually didn't buy anything, though, unless Kurt seemed to love the particular item.

They purposefully avoided the subjects of Rachel, the school musical and the class presidency the whole time. Blaine was, for once, glad that he wasn't a senior, so he wouldn't have to choose between voting for his sister and voting for his best friend.

When Blaine arrived back home a few hours later, he quickly greeted his dads before storming upstairs to his room. He would go and confront Rachel, but she would be totally obnoxious about the matter, he was certain. Rachel just wasn't always very good at taking other people's feelings into consideration when she did things. Besides, knowing Kurt, he would want to confront Rachel himself at school tomorrow.

o-o-o-o-o

Rachel had been itching to go over to Blaine's room to ask him where he'd been and what he'd meant before leaving, but she was glad that she'd managed to contain herself. Her brother was obviously just upset, and he would get over it soon enough. They couldn't both be the mature sibling, right?

The first few hours at school, she walked around with her back straight and a smile on her face – after all, a class president needed to be confident and nice. The same, incidentally, went for Maria.

Then, Kurt confronted her, and no matter how hard she tried, he didn't want to listen to reason – if one of them got cast in the musical, so would the other. It was either that, or neither of them could get to be in it. What was left for Rachel then? Kurt mentioned her various other clubs, which, admittedly, Rachel hadn't been a part of anymore since the start of the school year, and he continued talking about making a difference for other kids like him, which Rachel thought was an awfully dirty move on his part. Was Kurt really going to use Rachel's own brother against her?

And was this what Blaine had been talking about yesterday? Rachel took a deep breath. Well, sacrifices had to be made in order to rise to greatness. She just wasn't so sure anymore about what sacrifices were too big to make.

o-o-o-o-o

Not too longer after that, Rachel and Mercedes were called towards Ms Pillsbury's office to hear the directors' verdict. Rachel was very relieved by the news of the double-casting, although, of course, she would've been even happier if she'd been the only one to get the part. At least she didn't need to listen to both Kurt and her fathers telling her off for wanting to dissuade Blaine from going for the role of Tony anymore. That was, of course, if Kurt was still willing to talk to her.

Then Mercedes asked if they'd double cast any of the other roles too. Ms Pillsbury replied, "We're double casting Tony as well."

Turning to Rachel, Mercedes asked, "Tell me something, Rachel. Were you better than me? Can you tell me honestly that you were better than me at the Maria-off?"

The truth was, of course she couldn't. As she'd told Finn right after the song, Mercedes had done an amazing job. The other girl seemed to deem her silence enough of a response.

"So why are you doing this?" she asked the directors.

"We want to give all of you equal opportunity to shine," Artie replied.

"Even though I was better at the Maria-off?" Mercedes asked. "And I know that you think Blaine would make a better Tony than Kurt."

"Mercedes, Kurt and Blaine don't mind being double cast, so why – " Rachel started, and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Because A, they're too good friends not to let the other have the part, and B, they're too busy making heart eyes at one another when the other isn't looking to notice even if neither of them were cast."

Rachel stared at her for a moment. They made heart eyes at each other? Meaning that Kurt – okay. Rachel had a lot of work to do, it seemed.

"So you want to deny Kurt the chance of shining in a musical just – " she started, but Mercedes interrupted her.

"That's rich, coming from the second person who went from being his campaign manager to his opponent for the senior class presidency," Mercedes shot back. "Besides," she continued, now looking back at the directors, "even if you want to cast both Kurt and Blaine as Tony, you wouldn't need to double-cast Maria as well."

"Well, as said, we want to give you both an equal opportunity to shine," coach Beiste said.

Ms Pillsbury added, "Besides, this way, you'll have more time in between performances to rest up and improve." She looked incredibly happy about this, and Rachel did her best to smile back, if only to show that she did support this idea.

"How will the performances be divided between us?" Mercedes asked, still not looking too happy about the arrangement.

"We're adding a week," Artie replied. "You'll each get two matinees and four nights, and we're sure you'll both do the part justice in your own unique ways."

"I'll consider it," Mercedes said. The directors looked rather relieved to hear that, even though Mercedes made her way out of the office quickly after she'd spoken.

o-o-o-o-o

"So," Kurt said, "are you ready to walk over and have a look at the casting list?" He smiled brightly, but Blaine knew that he was nervous.

"I'm ready when you are," he replied. He'd heard snippets of what had happened regarding the role of Maria the day before, and both boys' fate was in the hands of Rachel and Mercedes. "I think I'll ask if I can be Bernardo instead if you get the part," he added in an afterthought, and Kurt grinned.

"You'd have to kill Mike, and I'd have to kill you. And you'd probably be playing opposite Santana." He laughed at Blaine's face. "I suppose that'd be my second choice as well, though I doubt they'll let me be Bernardo when they already thought I was too delicate for Tony."

"Well, come on then," Blaine said, grabbing Kurt's arm and hoping that that was okay. It was nothing they hadn't done before, but not in a crowded school corridor. "Let's go and check."

Mike and Santana were already celebrating their casting in front of the notice board, it seemed, but they moved away when Kurt and Blaine approached. They only needed half a second to glance over the list, and then they smiled at each other. Without even thinking about it, Blaine pulled Kurt into a fierce hug, both of them grinning at he did so.

They'd both got the part.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? Let me know, please review! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**: I was going to skip a few weeks before this chapter, but now, some time just goes by during the chapter, and at the start of the next. So... I think there'll be three more chapters after this. Just so you know :) If you have any questions, feel free to ask them.

Hopefully, you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review!

* * *

><p>They'd both got the part – meaning that Kurt would, most likely, be kissing Rachel sooner or later. For now, though, Blaine tried not to think about that, but rather how nice it was to hug Kurt.<p>

"Congrats," he muttered, his voice muffled. Before he knew it, Kurt was pulling away, looking suitably flustered. Blaine had to hold back a sigh of disappointment.

"You too," Kurt replied quietly, smiling. "So what do you say? Should we stop by Ms Pillsbury's office to see if they've already figured out a rehearsal schedule?"

o-o-o-o-o

Rachel couldn't help but feel relieved when she saw the cast list. She'd made it – she finally had the lead in a musical. Yes, she had to share it, but she'd already come to realise that she didn't even have to mention that in her applications. They might do some research and find out that way, but Rachel didn't see any reason as to why she should mention it herself. No one was asking for it, right? It was simply about whether or not she'd snagged a lead.

"This doesn't change anything, you realise that, right?" Rachel looked up; Mercedes was next to her, scanning the list.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked, as nonchalantly as possible.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Mercedes shoot her an annoyed glance. "I was still better than you at the auditions, and I'm going to be a better Maria than you will ever be."

As Mercedes walked away, Rachel stood stock still. She wanted to make this a competition? Fine. Rachel was ready for it.

But first, she had to do something else, namely spy on her brother and her best friend on yet another one of their infamous coffee dates, which actually weren't dates at all, according to the boys themselves (even though Rachel, and most of their other friends, she was certain, begged to differ). Therefore, she drove towards the Lima Bean, a place she'd already been often enough to know where Kurt and Blaine's regular table was, where their alternative tables were, and what the best spot to spy on them was.

After sitting down, Rachel took a random book from her bag and opened it. The boys hadn't arrived yet, which was odd, as she'd seen them walking away from the notice board when she approached. She wondered if maybe, they'd decided to go to the mall instead, or maybe to one of their houses. Perhaps she should call Finn and ask, but then she remembered that Finn had football practice, so he wouldn't know.

While she debated what she should do, she suddenly saw something familiar – the Dalton uniform. But it wasn't one of Kurt and Blaine's Warbler friends. Standing in line for coffee was a tall boy with a smirk on his face that could not mean anything good. Rachel looked away before he could notice her staring, but she couldn't really focus on her book either.

A couple of minutes later, Rachel was about to give up her mission, but then, miraculously, Kurt and Blaine walked in, looking chummier than ever. There was a piece of paper in Kurt's hand, and as they waited in line, Blaine was leaning almost dangerously close to read it. Rachel shook her head. Subtlety was clearly not a trait that ran in their family.

The boys sat down and talked for a while. Rachel just observed them. By now, she knew Blaine's expressions by heart, and yes, he was definitely shooting Kurt heart eyes, as Mercedes had called it. Rachel wasn't so sure about Kurt, though. Yes, he was always smiling at Blaine and never taking his eyes off him, but did that automatically mean that he liked Blaine like that?

Before Rachel could reach a decision for the day, the Dalton student she didn't know approached Kurt and Blaine, although it looked like he was mostly interested in Blaine. Intrigued, Rachel sat back in her seat. This could be interesting to watch.

And it was, especially because Kurt instantly became defensive and annoyed, while Blaine just seemed uncomfortable. With the way Kurt's eyes kept flashing between Blaine and the unnamed Dalton student, Rachel had to conclude that he was probably quite jealous, which was good.

Very good.

Some minutes later, the unknown boy left again, and Blaine appeared to be trying to calm Kurt down again, which he only succeeded in partly. In the end, Rachel managed to sneak past them without being noticed. She needed to work on her lines, after all, and on her campaign.

o-o-o-o-o

During dinner that night, their fathers were very happy to hear that everything had turned out alright and both Rachel and Blaine had been cast as leads in the musical without having to romantically interact with one another. They promised to be present for the show as often as they could. Rachel didn't mention Mercedes' words when they'd looked at the cast list, and when dinner was over, she fully intended to spend another few hours rehearsing various things.

Blaine, however, had other plans. Instead of ignoring her like the day before, he barged into her room tonight. He glanced around, taking in the campaign posters among her homework, and said, in a rather flat tone that wasn't like him at all, "So I take it you're not pulling out of the election?"

"No, of course not," Rachel replied, looking at him as if he'd gone crazy. "Why should I?"

"Because you already have about a hundred things to put on your resume?" Blaine suggested. "I know you haven't been particularly active in most of those clubs this year, but you've been a part of them at some point, so they still count."

"So are you telling Kurt to pull out as well?" she countered. "He also got a lead in the play."

"He doesn't have much else going for him for NYADA," Blaine reminded her. "Besides – I know that you'll see this musical as some sort of competition, be it with me or with Mercedes or both, and trust me when I say that your Tony is not very fond of you right now. As good as you both are, it's hard to fake chemistry when he can't even stand being in the same room as you."

"I'm not giving this up, Blaine," Rachel said through gritted teeth. "I want to get into NYADA, and I'm going to get in, no matter what it takes."

Blaine's gaze was almost pitying now. "If that's how you feel, I'd better go," he said, looking around once more. "Wouldn't want to stand in between you and your dream, after all."

o-o-o-o-o

The next few days were fairly hectic. The final important roles were filled (Puck figured he'd make a pretty kick-ass Bernardo and auditioned after all, and, in an attempt to stop Rachel from bothering him about it, Finn begrudgingly agreed to play Officer Krupke), a rehearsal schedule was worked out, and everybody got their text. Blaine and Kurt agreed to rehearse their lines together, much to Rachel's displeasure. Kurt didn't appear to have any problems with it, though, and Blaine still enjoyed their time together as well, as always.

A little over a week later, Kurt was talking to Mercedes at his locker when Blaine approached. "Oh, Blaine," Mercedes said when she noticed him. "I was just looking for you. Would you mind running some lines with me after school? We've got another rehearsal tomorrow, and it'd probably be good to run through some scenes together beforehand."

Blaine frowned slightly before turning to Kurt. "Are you meeting up with Rachel?"

Kurt glanced past him, no doubt scanning the corridor for Rachel. "Not as far as I'm aware."

"But yes, of course that's okay," Blaine told Mercedes, smiling. "Do you want to stay here for that?"

"Shane has football practice after school, so I figured we could work on this while waiting for him to finish?" Mercedes suggested, and Blaine nodded.

"Sure, that's fine." When Mercedes told them she'd see them later and walked off, Blaine smiled apologetically at Kurt. "So, no Lima Bean later, it seems."

"Not for you, no," Kurt corrected him. "I need my coffee to live."

Blaine whined. "That's not fair. Can't you bring me my coffee? I might actually die without it."

Kurt eyed him sceptically. "That's a little overdramatic, Blaine. And I'll consider it."

"Maybe you could come back and give Finn a ride home while you're at it," Blaine improvised, intent on getting his coffee later no matter what. "He usually catches a ride with Puck when they're practising, right?"

"Fine," Kurt sighed. "I'll ask Finn if he needs a ride. If he does, I might bring you some coffee."

Blaine grinned widely. "You're the best. Seriously." He decided not to think too much of the satisfied blush on Kurt's face when he said that.

o-o-o-o-o

When Rachel arrived at the Lima Bean that afternoon, she fully intended to spy on the two boys once again. However, when she entered, she found that Blaine wasn't there; it was just Kurt. Rachel started feeling a bit nervous; no matter how much her brother tended to annoy her and no matter how much Kurt was putting both her and his own future in jeopardy over a petty jealousy issue, she didn't want them to fight; quite the opposite, actually.

She got in line to order some coffee and tried to think of a plan. If she didn't have one before she sat down, Kurt would probably turn the tables and accuse her of spying without giving her the chance to interrogate him. As she did so, she noticed the same Dalton student who'd been there the week before approach Kurt and say something to him. Instantly, Kurt seemed to stiffen, and his jaw clenched. Rachel watched, intrigued, until it was her turn to order. By the time she was done, the Dalton boy was walking off again, a cocky smirk on his face once more.

"Who was that?" Rachel blurted out as she sat down opposite Kurt, whose guarded expression didn't falter when he noticed her.

"What do you want, Rachel?" Kurt asked cautiously, and she attempted to smile.

"Just talking to my best friend," she said. "Plus, I couldn't help but notice that my brother's not here with you – you're not fighting, are you? And I thought you got along with most Dalton students, so what's up with that guy?"

"I highly doubt you still qualify for that," Kurt muttered, but Rachel figured it was best to pretend that she hadn't heard him, as he did go on. "Blaine's practising some scenes with Mercedes for tomorrow's rehearsal, and Sebastian is… no one. Not really any of your business."

"Blaine and Mercedes are practising together for tomorrow's rehearsal?" Rachel asked, alarmed, completely forgetting about Sebastian or whatever that guy's name was for the moment. "Kurt! We need to do that too, or they'll completely upstage us and we can't have that! What if the directors decide that they're so much better than us that they'll cut us from the play anyway?"

Kurt shot her an exasperated look. "Fine. Take out your script then, we can do some quick dialogue for now. I have to be back at school later to pick up Finn."

o-o-o-o-o

Their rehearsal-of-sorts went pretty swimmingly. They caught up a bit at first, something they hadn't really had time for lately, seeing as Mercedes had joined the Troubletones now. She and Blaine had only really become friends because of Kurt, but they didn't always need him around to chat nowadays. When they were done, Blaine felt like he was somehow a little better prepared for the next day's rehearsal.

He waved goodbye to Mercedes and headed towards the parking lot. It wasn't difficult to see where Kurt was; Finn was already at the car and, well, it was hard to overlook Finn. Blaine quickly made his way over, and Kurt rolled his eyes when he saw him coming, though Blaine couldn't help but notice a smile tugging at his lips as well. It was a truly beautiful sight.

"You're in luck," Kurt told him when he reached them. He held out a cup of coffee for Blaine, who eagerly took it.

"Thanks, Kurt, I owe you," he said, right before taking a large sip. "Did anything interesting happen?"

Kurt shrugged. "Not really. Rachel was at the Bean, for some reason. I didn't think to ask. We ran through some scenes as well – which doesn't mean I've forgiven her, or anything."

Blaine nodded in understanding. "I get it. I'll try to talk to her later, or something."

"I doubt she'll listen," Finn commented. "She really wants this, you know?"

Kurt eyed his stepbrother for a second before responding, "Well, good thing then that I really want this as well."

o-o-o-o-o

"Hey, Blaine?" Blaine glanced up from his homework to see Rachel hovering in his doorway. "Can I ask you something?"

Sitting back in his chair, Blaine shrugged. "What is it?" he asked, wondering if she was going to ask him to run lines with him or what he and Mercedes had covered, or maybe if he could talk to Kurt for her.

Rachel walked into the room and sat down on the bed, looking almost nervous. "There was this… boy," she started, "at the Lima Bean. Last week and today. Tall, sort of cocky, in a Dalton uniform?"

"Sebastian?" Blaine frowned. Sebastian had been in the Lima Bean again today? Blaine had thought Sebastian would've backed off by now.

"So you know him?" Rachel asked. "I didn't recognise him as one of your friends."

"He's not a friend," Blaine answered, not sure how much of this story he wanted to tell Rachel.

Rachel nodded. "Okay. I figured he wasn't, seeing as Kurt doesn't seem to like him at all."

"He doesn't like Sebastian," Blaine agreed. "What did he say?"

"I don't know," Rachel replied. "I only saw it happen, and Kurt didn't want to tell me anything."

For a moment, Blaine contemplated asking Rachel to leave and calling Kurt to ask what Sebastian had said, but in the end, he decided to finish this conversation first. "Why were at the Lima Bean, Rachel? You don't ever go there, except when you're with Kurt or me."

Rachel's eyes widened just slightly. "I was looking for Kurt," she replied. "To… run some lines as well."

Blaine raised an eyebrow at her. "According to Kurt, you only wanted to do that when you realised Mercedes and I were doing the same."

"Okay, fine." Rachel crossed her arms. "I was there to spy on you. See how you interacted."

"On… me and Kurt?" Blaine frowned. "So that's why you were there last week, too? But why?"

"According to Mercedes, Kurt likes you as well," Rachel replied. "And before you tell me I misunderstood, she said that you were always making heart eyes at each other when the other wasn't looking."

Blaine sighed, running a hand across his face. "What – okay. And you wanted to see that for yourself."

Rachel nodded, smiling widely. "I couldn't see it very well from afar, though."

"Sebastian is… a plan Jeff and Nick cooked up," Blaine said slowly and quietly. "An attempt to make Kurt jealous, if you will."

"He didn't look happy this afternoon," Rachel supplied helpfully. "I think Sebastian's really getting to him."

"Maybe he just feels protective of me," Blaine mumbled. "You know, as a friend."

Rachel pursed her lips. "Maybe, but at this point I highly doubt it. He wouldn't get so worked up if he was merely trying to protect you, especially when you're not there." She was silent for a moment. "I'll just… go now. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Blaine nodded absent-mindedly. He still had to do his homework, and he needed to figure out how to get Sebastian to leave him and Kurt alone. To add to that – according to the people around him, the chances of Kurt liking him back were growing bigger and bigger.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: So, what do you think? :) Let me know, please review!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: There's not that much going on in this chapter, but we're nearing the end, so... :) Two more after this!

Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review at the bottom! :D

* * *

><p>A couple of weeks went by, and Blaine had not come any closer to getting closure about Kurt's feelings for him. He'd tried to trick Kurt into saying it, but that had only led to odd situations that ultimately led Kurt to question him whether he was okay. Blaine quickly gave up that approach after that.<p>

They were currently sitting at the Lima Bean with some of the Warblers – not just Nick and Jeff this time, but luckily, Sebastian wasn't there either. He'd shown up one more time, and Kurt's mood had been sour for two whole days after that. On the other hand, maybe their Dalton friends could give Blaine some more insight in what Kurt's reactions meant. He knew Rachel meant well, but she was also his sister and one of Kurt's best friends, so she was biased. On top of that, she was also trying to make sure Kurt was happy enough to not pay much attention to the fact that she still hadn't pulled out of the presidential race.

Needless to say, this mission was failing spectacularly. Blaine knew Mercedes didn't really mind their rivalry (though she'd made it known that, if she had to choose sides, she was on Kurt's), but that mostly had to do with the fact that Rachel and Kurt being at each other's throats all the time would make Blaine and Mercedes' portrayal of Tony and Maria seem much, much better.

"So how's the musical coming along?" David asked at one point.

"Opening night is in a few weeks," Kurt replied. "We could save you guys some tickets if you're interested."

Nick grinned widely. "Count us in. Though – we'll be needing two sets of tickets, right? One for each of you."

"Speaking of, who's going to be performing at opening night?" Jeff asked, frowning confusedly.

"That's still undecided," Kurt responded. "It depends on who's best prepared by that time. Or they'll flip a coin if we're all equally well prepared." After a short pause, he added, "Blaine and Mercedes, probably."

"You don't know that," Blaine instantly protested. "You're really good, Kurt. And so is Rachel."

"Yes, but since we can't actually stand each other at the moment…" Kurt sighed.

"She's still trying to become senior class president as well?" Nick asked concernedly. "That really blows."

"I'll beat her," Kurt said, his face hardening. "Eventually, I'll beat her."

o-o-o-o-o

When Nick called Blaine later that day, Blaine was almost dreading picking up the phone. In the end, he did, and he was immediately greeted by Jeff bluntly telling him, "He likes you, Blaine. Now do something about it."

"What?" Blaine was momentarily confused. "How do you know? And why should _I_ do something about it?"

"Because it's clear that Kurt's holding back for some reason," Nick – who'd probably had to wrench his phone out of Jeff's hands – said. "There must be something you can do to initiate a kiss, right?"

"I guess." Blaine wasn't completely convinced.

"Like, you could lean closer and closer to him until there's only a short distance between you." Jeff had taken over again, by the sound of it. "So he can close the distance if he wants to."

"And if he doesn't?" Blaine asked, wondering if taking love advice from Nick and Jeff was really the smartest thing to do. After almost a year, he knew them a bit.

"Then you just lean back again as smoothly as you can," Jeff said, obviously grinning. "You can always say you thought there was something on his face."

"You know we're talking about Kurt here, right?" Blaine said doubtfully. "If there's even the slightest indication that there's something on his face that shouldn't be there, he freaks out. And he's going to hate me if it turns out to be nothing."

Jeff sighed. "Yeah," he said. "There's that." Both he and Nick were quiet for a moment.

"We'll try to come up with something else and let you know. In the meantime, if you have an opportunity to tell him or kiss him, just go for it," Nick said eventually.

"I'll consider it," Blaine promised. He was already nervous just thinking about it, however. Why couldn't Kurt just wear a huge sign over his head indicating whether or not he was in love with him?

o-o-o-o-o

Blaine spent the rest of the evening not thinking of a way to ask Kurt out, but preparing a song for Glee club the next day. That always helped him clear his thoughts, though the fact remained that his mind kept going back to what Rachel and his friends had told him. He just hoped he wouldn't be too distracted to actually perform the song.

Naturally, when he announced that he had prepared a song, Santana instantly protested. Blaine wondered why she hadn't prepared something if she was so against him and Rachel singing all the time. They seemed to be the only people who actually prepared songs for all the individual assignments. That wasn't their fault, right?

Luckily, Katy Perry had never let him down before, and _Last Friday Night_ proved to be another hit with Blaine's fellow Glee club members – except, of course, Santana. Kurt seemed a little hesitant as well at first, but Blaine managed to get him to dance along in the end. He tried not to notice every time their hands touched, and he even managed to make it through the song without any obvious mistakes. He didn't even forget the lyrics this time.

"Katy Perry, Blaine, really?" Kurt asked him the moment they walked out of the choir room.

"Yes, really." Blaine crossed his arms. "Why? At least I got everyone out of their seats."

"Except Santana," Kurt reminded him, but Blaine simply pulled a face. "I know," Kurt continued. "There isn't much you could do you please her."

"Well, I happen to think it was a great idea," Blaine said. "Everyone's been so depressed lately. You'd think someone actually died, instead of that just happening in the musical."

Kurt nodded and sighed. "Let's go to class, okay?"

o-o-o-o-o

When Santana (somewhat predictably) quit Glee club a few days later to join the new club at McKinley, Blaine wasn't surprised. The same went for the fact that Santana dragged Brittany along over there. Blaine liked Brittany well enough, but she was very easily influenced by other people – and by other people, Blaine primarily meant Santana.

A couple of days later – by now, Kurt had told Blaine everything about his father's sudden plan to become a congressman – Finn brought along a new friend of his to try out for the club. It was quickly decided that he should get in – though Blaine was certain that Kurt did not like the boy's higher range – so at least they'd have one more member. They still didn't have enough people for Sectionals, though.

The coffee dates still existed, of course, although Kurt and Blaine didn't always have time to go to the Lima Bean after school. Blaine hoped that that was when Sebastian came around there.

o-o-o-o-o

Before they knew it, they only had a little over a week of rehearsals left before opening night. Soon, there would be kissing, so Blaine had to act quickly. Still, he didn't want to just… march over and plant one on Kurt if Kurt didn't want it. Sometimes it sucked being raised to be a gentleman, Blaine thought. Besides – if Kurt didn't want it, Blaine risked losing his best friend, and he didn't exactly want that to happen either.

That day, rehearsal went well, as always, but Blaine was still pretty anxious about the upcoming kissing scenes. For now, though, he ignored that feeling in favour of listening to the directors' commentary. Artie announced that he had some concerns, which, frankly, surprised both the actors and Artie's two fellow directors. When Artie asked if any of them had actually… well, done _that_, Ms Pillsbury and coach Beiste ran off as quickly as they could.

When he asked what it had been like for them, Mercedes commented, "That's really none of your business, Artie."

"Okay." Artie seemed at least appeased that Mercedes might have actually done 'it' at some point; it didn't surprise Blaine very much, to be honest. She and Sam had spent an awful lot of time together during the summer. "What about the rest of you?"

"Well…," Rachel started, looking extremely uncomfortable. As far as Blaine knew – not that he wanted to know about his sister's sex life – she and Finn hadn't done anything of that kind.

"Artie," Kurt started, sounding a little irritated, "Blaine and I are gay teens in homophobic Ohio. Where do you expect us to find someone to do that with in the first place?"

Blaine could feel his eyes widen, and both Rachel and Mercedes shot Kurt exasperated looks. Kurt obviously hadn't thought that through very well.

"Well, you said it," Artie replied, still not quite understanding that it wasn't really his place – or anyone's, really – to tell them all to go off and have sex. "You and Blaine are gay teens, meaning you're both gay, so…"

The expression on Kurt's face would've been priceless if the situation hadn't been so mortifying.

"I can't believe he said that," Blaine muttered later, as he and Rachel were driving home.

"Who?" Rachel asked. "Artie or Kurt?"

Blaine groaned. "Both of them."

Rachel just gave him a sympathetic smile in return.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Yeah. Then that happened :P Let me know what you thought of this, please review!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: We're almost at the end now! :) I'm sorry if anything is confusing or seems messy or anything; there was just some stuff I still (felt like I?) had to solve here and there. Feel free to ask for an explanation if anything seems weird :) Oh, and obviously, I don't own the Pink song Blaine sings a line of in this chapter :P

Hopefully, you'll like the chapter, and please leave a review when you finish! :D

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><p>"Rachel?" Blaine asked when they arrived at their house, looking over at his sister in the passenger seat hesitantly. "You're not actually thinking of following Artie's 'advice', right?"<p>

Rachel shifted in her seat. "I don't know," she confessed. "It's easy for you to say – you and Kurt both have about the same amount of experience in the matter, whereas Mercedes has… well, if she's speaking the truth, she's gone all the way already. I don't need another disadvantage here."

"You've always said you wanted to wait until you're, what, twenty-five?" Blaine remarked. "Artie won't be the last person to tell you to go out and live a little. Of course, if you… think you're ready, then go for it. Just don't come and tell me all about it afterwards, okay?"

"Finn's already done it, too," Rachel said, and Blaine wasn't sure if she'd even been listening to what he was saying. "He probably wants to do it again some time soon, and if – "

"I'm sure he'd understand," Blaine said, and when Rachel's face lit up, he hastily added, "if you wanted to wait. I don't know how he'd feel if he found out you just wanted to have sex with him because of a role."

"You think?" Rachel frowned.

Blaine frowned right back. "Seriously?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll think about it, at least. As for you, you'd better hope I forget to bring up the issue again during rehearsal, because I'm sure Artie would love to badger you and Kurt about it a little more."

She skipped out of the car after that, hastily running up to the front door. It took Blaine a couple of seconds to process what she'd said, but then he, too, jumped out of the car. "You wouldn't dare!" he called after Rachel, who, by now, had already opened the door and was walking in.

Now, she turned around to face him. "Are you sure of that?" she asked, smiling wickedly.

Blaine took a moment to gather his thoughts. "I don't see how you would gain anything from that," he said. "How would that help you? Besides, what exactly did I do to deserve that kind of retaliation? What did Kurt do?"

Rachel visibly deflated. "You mean besides not getting his act together and asking you out already?" she asked, trying to make it sound like a joke. She sighed. "I just want my best friend back."

Finally closing the front door behind him, Blaine walked past her, towards the stairs. "You really should've thought about that before."

o-o-o-o-o

Naturally, Rachel couldn't stay away again, so Blaine had to postpone doing his homework because Rachel wouldn't leave him alone.

"How about you serenade him first?" she asked. "Or, maybe you could – "

Still, that didn't mean that Blaine had to listen to what Rachel was saying. She'd been spewing ideas at him to ask Kurt out and/or kiss him for the past ten minutes, but Blaine found something wrong with each and everyone single one. Besides, he'd already been over them all more than once already.

"You could also go skydiving, in secret," Rachel suggested. "And then you could kiss him while you're coming down and then ask him out! He'll be so shocked that he'll have to say yes!"

"Rachel, that's ridiculous." Admittedly, it was one of the few ideas Blaine hadn't considered yet. He didn't really have to, though. There wasn't much to consider. "I don't think either of us would ever do such a thing. Besides, I'm still underage, am I even allowed to go skydiving without parental consent? And I don't really want to shock him into saying yes." There were probably even more things wrong with the idea, but this was enough for now.

Rachel scoffed. "You do realise that you've only got a few days left before we have to start practising the kissing, right?"

"Do you _really_ think I've forgotten?" Blaine asked, sending her a pointed look.

"It seems so," Rachel shot back. "It's as if you've given up."

"I haven't given up," Blaine muttered.

"You sound close to it," Rachel retorted, and Blaine would've made a somewhat scathing remark if it wasn't for the fact that that was exactly when his phone rang.

He took one glance at the screen before shooing Rachel out of his room. "It's Kurt," he hissed at her, and she smirked. While she did walk out and close the door, Blaine was certain that she was still standing there, trying to listen in. Finally answering his phone, he tried not to sound _too_ happy when he greeted Kurt with a simple, "Hey!"

"Hi." Kurt sounded a little apprehensive. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened during rehearsal. I had no idea Brittany turned Artie into someone who goes around telling everyone to have, you know… sex."

Blaine let out a long breath. "That's fine," he replied. "I don't… blame you or anything. Let's just forget it happened, okay?"

"Thank you." Kurt was clearly relieved to hear that. "We're still on for tomorrow, right?"

For a moment, Blaine was confused. "Tomorrow? Oh, yeah, of course. We're driving over after school, right?"

"Yeah, unless you want to skip or something," Kurt replied. "They're rehearsing most of the Sharks' scenes tomorrow, so we don't necessarily have to be present for that anyway."

Blaine nodded. "Tomorrow after school's great."

They continued talking for a little longer until Kurt had to go make dinner. After they'd hung up, there was a loud crash outside Blaine's bedroom door, and he suddenly remembered that Rachel had been conspicuously silent during his and Kurt's conversation. Leaping up from his seat, he opened his bedroom door, only to see Rachel's door close.

With a sigh, he walked over, and knocked. "Rachel?" he asked. "What are you – "

"Sorry, sorry," she called out, before throwing the door open. "I wasn't… listening in, or anything."

"Right." Like Blaine believed that.

"I wasn't," Rachel continued. "I wanted to, but you don't speak very loudly when you're on the phone, you know that?"

"That's more than I can say about you," Blaine told her. "I can hear your phone conversations while I'm in my own room and both our doors are closed."

"Oh, very nice, Blaine," Rachel said. "What did Kurt want? Did he ask – "

"Nothing that concerns you," Blaine evaded. "I'll go do my homework now."

Hopefully, he would still know how to behave around Kurt tomorrow after school, because otherwise, spending those three to four hours in the car with him would be very awkward.

o-o-o-o-o

Fortunately, there wasn't any awkwardness the next day. They had, after all, agreed not to mention the previous day's rehearsal, and maybe Blaine had been overreacting before. Kurt still didn't seem to have a clue about the fact that Blaine liked him, so it wasn't as if that made everything weird all of a sudden.

"So, you have the tickets?" Kurt asked, glancing sideways at Blaine for a split second.

"Of course." Blaine patted his bag. "I hope we've got enough for all of them."

"Otherwise we'll just figure something out." Kurt reached for his coffee – that they'd just _had_ to get at the Lima Bean before leaving – right when Blaine moved to fiddle with the radio, so their hands brushed. Blaine sat stock-still, not knowing what to do now. Of course, this wasn't the first time they'd touched, but he hadn't seen it coming and even if he had, Kurt's touches still set something off inside him that he never seemed to be able to get used to.

After a few seconds, he finally dared to look at Kurt, only to see that his hand was frozen as well. Kurt himself, however, was anything but, which was probably for the best, seeing as he was still driving.

Blaine coughed awkwardly. "Right," he muttered quietly, as he reached down to hand Kurt his coffee (which earned him a grateful smile). After that, he focused on the radio again, trying to find a station they could both sing along with.

Once he was satisfied with his choice, he sat back, and Kurt rolled his eyes at him as he handed Blaine his coffee back. "Really, Blaine? Pink?"

Blaine simply raised an eyebrow challengingly, trying to coax Kurt to sing along. "_You're so mean, when you talk_." With an exasperated sigh (and a victorious grin from Blaine), Kurt started humming along as well.

o-o-o-o-o

The Warblers welcomed them very enthusiastically, and Blaine was relieved to see that not even Sebastian's very obvious presence put a damper on Kurt's mood – yet, at least. It didn't make Blaine less apprehensive, though, when Sebastian approached him while Kurt was chatting with Jeff and David at the other side of the room.

"Thanks for the tickets, Blaine," Sebastian told him, smirking. "I just happen to be very busy next week, so I don't think I can make it any time except for opening night. By the way – you're still very welcome to join me in my plans on the nights you're not performing. I'm sure I can fit you in somewhere."

Blaine rolled his eyes. It had been decided a few days earlier that Blaine and Mercedes would get the opening night, something Rachel hadn't been happy about at all. "I already told you, Sebastian, that I'm not interested," he said. "Why are you even doing this now? Kurt's not around to hear you. We could, you know, have an actual conversation for once and he would be none the wiser."

Sebastian shrugged. "Not really interested in your so-called 'actual conversations', Blaine, sorry. Besides, I meant it when I said you're hot. If you ever decide that you _are_ interested, just let me know." Blaine wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about that, but at least Sebastian walked away after that.

"You still haven't told him?" That was Nick, nudging Blaine's shoulder. When Blaine shook his head, Nick asked, "Haven't you already started rehearsing those kisses?"

"They saved that for last," Blaine replied. "Probably because they know none of us are fully comfortable kissing each other. I'm sure that if it had been Finn and Rachel, they would've had them kiss in every kissing scene from the beginning."

"They wouldn't have to," Nick commented. "They already seem to practise that more than necessary, don't they?" Blaine couldn't fault that logic.

o-o-o-o-o

When the two boys entered McKinley the next day, something instantly seemed off. They didn't think much of it, however, until they walked from Kurt's locker to Blaine's locker and Rachel was suddenly blocking their way.

"Hey," she said, more subdued than Blaine was used to. "I had to give you these from Ms Pillsbury." She held out identical slips of paper. "It's about rehearsal today. They don't want us there all at the same time, but Kurt and I will go first, and Blaine, you and Mercedes will be rehearsing half an hour later than normally."

"Okay." It was obvious that Kurt still didn't want to be anywhere near Rachel. "I'll – "

"I pulled out of the race," Rachel blurted out before he could continue. "I told coach Beiste yesterday that I will no longer be running for senior class president."

Kurt blinked at her, before turning to Blaine with a confused expression on his face. Blaine, however, was just as shocked.

"Are you serious?" he therefore asked. "Why didn't you say anything? We live together, Rach."

"I know," Rachel said. "But I knew you'd tell Kurt before I would get the chance to do so if I did. I just – I'm sorry I decided to run against you, Kurt. That was – I just want my best friend back and… it would've been awful for the show as well, wouldn't it?"

She then all but threw herself at Kurt, pulling him into a hug (reminding Blaine, once more, of how nice Kurt's hugs were). When the bell rang not two seconds later, Kurt let go and said, "It's fine. We'll talk about this later, okay?"

o-o-o-o-o

That afternoon, Blaine was sitting in the choir room, waiting for it to be time to go to rehearsal. One look at the clock told him it'd be a while; Rachel and Kurt had only just started. When his phone beeped, indicating that he had a new text message, he expected it to be from Mercedes, asking where he was. Thus, when he saw that it was from Rachel, he frowned. Hastily opening it, his eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when he read the message.

_They're making us rehearse the kissing scenes today! Hurry!_

Hurry? What for? Clearly, his feet had a different idea, and before he knew it, Blaine was out of the choir room, sprinting towards the auditorium, where he burst through the doors right when the directors sat down and Kurt and Rachel were taking their positions on stage.

"Wait!" Blaine yelled before he realised it. "Stop! I – "

"Blaine?" Ms Pillsbury said. "What are you doing here? Didn't you get the note?"

"Yes, I did," Blaine replied, slightly out of breath. "I just – Kurt. I – " Kurt was staring at him from where he was standing on stage, while Rachel was smiling knowingly. Gathering all the courage he could find, Blaine slowly started walking down the stairs towards the stage. It was hardly an ideal situation (especially since they had an audience, which was made up of Blaine's sister, two teachers and a seemingly sex-obsessed classmate), but it was clear that he didn't really have a choice now. "Kurt," he repeated as he walked on stage. "I was going to – I wanted – but – "

By now, he was standing right in front of his best friend – the boy he had been head over heels in love with for the past two years but never mentioned anything of the sort to. "Blaine – " Kurt started, but Blaine shook his head.

"I just – I never – " he started, but Kurt didn't let him finish either. Instead, he leaned forward just slightly and pressed his lips against Blaine's firmly. Blaine's mind started swimming. Oh, god. They were kissing, weren't they? Kurt was – Kurt was kissing him. He was kissing Kurt. And it was everything he'd ever dreamed of and more.

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><p><strong>AN**: Finally, right? :P Let me know what you thought of this chapter, please review!


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N**: So... final chapter (already)! :) I hope you'll like it and it won't disappoint too much. For most of the writing process, I had a whole ending all planned out but now, it happened in an entirely different way... oh well :) I don't really have anything else to add, but if anything's unclear, feel free to ask :)

Hopefully you'll enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review when you're done reading! :)

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><p>It was just a chaste kiss, nothing Blaine hadn't done before back when he'd been drunk all those months ago. Somehow, though, it felt like so much more. It must be the fact that he actually <em>liked<em> Kurt romantically; he was in love with him – though the fact that he was completely sober now (although he might end up drunk on Kurt and the smell and taste of him if they continued like this) might also play some role.

Kurt's lips, while still pressing insistently against Blaine's, were soft, and Blaine thought it must truly be a sign that they fit together so well. He wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted, but eventually, Kurt pulled away, looking so flushed that Blaine couldn't believe that he had caused that. He felt deliriously happy, and he would've chased Kurt's lips if it wasn't for Artie catcalling. That kind of ruined the moment.

They both hastily took a few steps away from each other. Blaine felt like his face was on fire.

"Well," Ms Pillsbury said, obviously as caught off guard as Blaine had initially been. "That was… surprising."

"Definitely didn't think that would happen when we decided to run through the kissing scenes in a little more detail," coach Beiste added. "I'd expected that there would be more Tony and Maria interaction, not Tony and… Tony."

"Do we still have time to make changes in the script?" Artie asked. "Think about how… progressive we would be if we produced this musical with two men in the lead. Of course, one of you would become Mario, but – "

"Excuse me?" The look on Rachel's face would've been priceless if she hadn't been aiming it at all of them. "No. No, you can't do this to me. I deserve that role, I _need_ that role."

"I agree with Rachel," Kurt said. "Progressive though it might be, it's very likely that such a production would cause another tidal wave of homophobia because, let's face it, Ohio is not New York or San Francisco. Besides, you wouldn't only be changing the lead characters, but also about half the songs, and one of us would have to learn a lot of new lines in only a week." He then proceeded to grab Blaine's hand tightly. "Come on," he said, tugging him backstage and out of the auditorium. The directors and Rachel appeared to be too flabbergasted to react.

"Where are we going?" Blaine asked as they stumbled through a deserted hallway. "Don't you have to practise?"

Kurt smiled impishly. "I thought we were."

Blaine almost tripped over his feet.

"An empty classroom? Really, Kurt?" he asked when Kurt guided him into a classroom Blaine didn't think he'd ever had class in.

"Well, of course," Kurt replied, letting go of Blaine's hand and sitting down on one of the chairs. "We – we need to talk, I think. And it's for the best if no one's around overhearing or interrupting."

"Alright," Blaine replied, slowly walking to the desk behind Kurt's chair. "So… where do we start?"

"I'd say at the beginning," Kurt responded. "It's not really clear where the beginning is, though, so maybe you could try to… explain why you came barging into the auditorium like a madman?"

"Oh, yeah." Blaine nodded, rubbing his hands until Kurt put one of his own hands on top. "Rachel texted me about what you were going to do today."

"And you wanted to… put a stop to that?" Kurt sounded vaguely amused.

"Not completely," Blaine replied. "I was mostly trying to beat Rachel to it. To kissing you. Because I – I'm in love with you and it would be horribly awkward, for me at least, if you kissed my sister. Before I got the chance to do so, at least, because I know that you're going to have to do that for the play anyway, but… I wanted to kiss you before she did. Rachel knew that, which must be why she sent me that text in the first place."

Kurt smiled. "I'm glad," he told Blaine. "To be honest, I wanted to kiss you before kissing Rachel as well. I just wasn't sure how to approach that topic. And you were right on time."

Blaine ducked his head, and when he looked back up, Kurt was still beaming at him. "If I'd have known the prospect of kissing Rachel would make you kiss me, I would've asked for her help to devise a scheme ages ago," he said, and Kurt chuckled.

"If only," he muttered, before frowning. "So you're… in love with me? How long have you felt that way?"

"Oh." Blaine blushed all over again. "I don't… really know. Okay – since freshman year."

"Two years?" Kurt stared at him in shock. "Oh, god. I really am an idiot. I'm so sorry, Blaine."

"Not your fault," Blaine replied. "Though I must admit, it does kind of suck to hear the guy you're in love with go on and on about the same guy your sister's infatuated with as well."

"I told myself I liked Finn," Kurt said quietly. "After a while, I started believing it, but in the beginning, it was just a means to stop myself from falling for you. You were way nicer to me on your worst days than he was on his best."

"Okay, that does it," Blaine said, mostly to have something to say, something to keep his mind off of what should've happened two years ago already. "You really are an idiot."

"I know." Kurt pulled a face. "And I stopped 'liking' Finn a year and a half ago." When Blaine didn't say anything, he continued, "Of course, I didn't just… go back to liking you immediately, but it definitely started again that summer."

Blaine pursed his lips. "We could've gotten together over a year ago?" He shook his head somewhat disbelievingly. "We really suck at this, don't we?"

Kurt just looked at him for a moment, smiling slightly. "We kind of do," he admitted. A few seconds later, he frowned and asked, "Does that mean we'd better not give this a try, or…?"

"I – " Blaine stared at him, unsure if he'd heard that correctly. "Is that what you want?"

"No," Kurt replied, "of course not. I would love to… be your boyfriend if you'd let me, but if you – "

Blaine surged forward then, pressing their lips together again. It felt just as nice, if not even better, as before. When a lack of oxygen – they hadn't had much practice yet, after all, though Blaine already looked forward to making up for all the lost time – became too much, they broke away, smiling.

"So… is that a yes?" Kurt asked, and Blaine couldn't quite control his grin.

"Yes," he simply replied, and now Kurt was the one leaning forward.

About ten minutes later, Blaine felt as if he was in a Kurt-induced haze – not that he minded. Kurt himself didn't seem much better off, though. That is, until he grinned, and said, "God, now I can't wait until we see Sebastian again at the Lima Bean. I'd love to see his face when he realises – " He broke off when he saw Blaine's face. Mistaking Blaine's sudden look of alarm for confusion, he added, "Maybe he'll lay off on us now, leave us alone for a change. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Of course that would be great," Blaine muttered. "Just – there's something you need to know about Sebastian."

Kurt's face fell. "You didn't actually sleep with him, did you?"

"What? No, of course not!" Blaine stared at Kurt, aghast. "No. He's not my type. At all." Before Kurt could ask him what his type was, he quickly continued talking. "He was – he won't bother us anymore, I think. Nick and Jeff – it's all their fault. They thought sending him after me would make you jealous and act on your feelings, or something."

"Well, obviously _that_ didn't work. his constant comments that you're too good for me didn't help much either," Kurt muttered, looking slightly disturbed at this new revelation. "Still, though, I'm glad he's not actually a threat."

Blaine felt relieved to hear that. "Do you think we should go back to rehearsal?" he asked, now that they weren't kissing anyway.

"I think they all think we already left," Kurt responded, looking a little ashamed. He seemed to become more hopeful as he continued, "So maybe that's what we could do now?"

"Sounds like a plan. Should we go to the Lima Bean first to grab a coffee to go and then…" He drifted off.

"We'll see where we go from there," Kurt said, smiling brightly. Grabbing Blaine's hand, he tugged him up again. "Come on."

o-o-o-o-o

One of the advantages of being double cast in a role had to be the fact that Blaine knew everything that was going to happen on stage, at least in relation to Tony. It helped him know when Tony and Maria would share kisses, and thus, when he should definitely avert his eyes for a few seconds.

As he turned back to the stage from his spot in the audience, he smiled broadly, at both Kurt and Rachel. After Rachel had pulled out of the race, things had quickly returned to how they'd been before between her and Kurt, and that had been very noticeable in the progress they'd made with regards to the musical.

Blaine was sure that most people in school didn't realise that something had changed between him and Kurt, mostly because, as Artie had put it, everyone sort of thought they'd started ages ago. Blaine himself, however, couldn't be happier with those changes that had definitely taken place. Although public displays of affection were still all but a taboo, it was amazing to know that, technically, he could now kiss and hug and hold Kurt (and be kissed and hugged and held in return) whenever he wanted.

In a way, however, he supposed that maybe those other kids in school were right. He and Kurt had always been practically attached to the hip, and that remained the same. Apart from the kissing (and hugging and holding), not much changed between them. Their dynamic was still there, but now, they weren't just best friends, but also boyfriends (acknowledging that still made him giddy). They were still… them.

Rachel still got to kiss Kurt on stage, of course (she'd even tried to talk about that experience to Blaine, who'd promptly shut his bedroom door in her face), but Blaine found that he didn't mind that a whole lot anymore now that he got to kiss Kurt whenever they were off stage. He was even almost thankful that Rachel had to kiss Kurt for the musical. If it hadn't been for that, neither boy would've admitted his feelings to the other. Who knew how long it would've taken them then.

Kurt already saw Blaine approaching, and he smiled widely, in that cute close-lipped way Blaine loved so much. And if there was one thing he'd learnt from this whole ordeal, Blaine knew as Kurt reached out for him, it was that he absolutely adored kissing Kurt.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: The end! It turned out to be longer than I thought it would be, but... Let me know what you thought of this, please review!


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